Both Ribes

Ribes roezlii vs Ribes speciosum

These two are not on this page because a keyword tool suggested them. They are here because our own identification model genuinely mistook one for the other, on real photographs, 5 times. We publish the rate, and then we tell you what actually separates them.

Confused 5x by our model Same genus Ribes Method published

Side by sidefigs. a and b

Ribes roezlii, photographed by Eugene Eric Kim
fig. a Eugene Eric Kim, CC0 1.0

Ribes roezlii

Sierra Gooseberry
Ribes speciosum, photographed by Millie Basden
fig. b Millie Basden, CC BY 4.0

Ribes speciosum

Fuchsiaflower Gooseberry

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Ribes roezlii Ribes speciosum 5 of 19 (26%)

The confusion runs one way only. The model mistakes Ribes roezlii for Ribes speciosum, but not the reverse.

Measured on 38,299 openly licensed, research-grade photographs. Full method and dataset.

What actually separates themon the record

Family Both Grossulariaceae. The family does not separate them.
Genus Both Ribes. Congeners, which is why this is hard.
Flowering Peaks in March versus March. Timing does not separate them. (n = 947 and 756.)

What we do not have yet: the diagnostic morphological character that a botanist would key on, from a source we can cite. We are not going to invent one. Until we have it, this page tells you the two are genuinely confusable, how often, and what the taxonomy and the flowering data do and do not settle.

Both recordsfull pages