Both Vernonia

Vernonia baldwinii vs Vernonia missurica

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

Confused 10x by our model Same genus Vernonia Method published

Side by sidefigs. a and b

Vernonia baldwinii, photographed by Annika Lindqvist
fig. a Annika Lindqvist, CC BY 4.0

Vernonia baldwinii

Western Ironweed
Vernonia missurica, photographed by Rich Sommer
fig. b Rich Sommer, CC BY 4.0

Vernonia missurica

Missouri Ironweed

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Vernonia missurica Vernonia baldwinii 10 of 19 (53%)

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

What actually separates themon the record

Family Both Asteraceae. The family does not separate them.
Genus Both Vernonia. Congeners, which is why this is hard.
Flowering Peaks in July versus August. If the plant is in flower, timing helps. (n = 484 and 318.)

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