Both Saxifragaceae

Tellima grandiflora vs Tiarella cordifolia

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, 3 times. We publish the rate, and then we tell you what actually separates them.

Confused 3x by our model Method published

Side by sidefigs. a and b

Tellima grandiflora, photographed by Robyn Hanson
fig. a Robyn Hanson, CC0 1.0

Tellima grandiflora

fringe cups
Tiarella cordifolia, photographed by Ashwin Srinivasan
fig. b Ashwin Srinivasan, CC BY 4.0

Tiarella cordifolia

Heartleaf Foamflower

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Tellima grandiflora Tiarella cordifolia 3 of 19 (16%)

The confusion runs one way only. The model mistakes Tellima grandiflora for Tiarella cordifolia, 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 Saxifragaceae. The family does not separate them.
Genus Tellima versus Tiarella.
Flowering Peaks in May versus April. If the plant is in flower, timing helps. (n = 2,622 and 251.)

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