Nyctaginaceae and Sarraceniaceae

Abronia latifolia vs Sarracenia purpurea

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

Abronia latifolia, photographed by Cricket Raspet
fig. a Cricket Raspet, CC BY 4.0

Abronia latifolia

Yellow Sand Verbena
Sarracenia purpurea, photographed by Lynn Harper
fig. b Lynn Harper, CC0 1.0

Sarracenia purpurea

purple pitcher plant

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Abronia latifolia Sarracenia purpurea 3 of 20 (15%)

The confusion runs one way only. The model mistakes Abronia latifolia for Sarracenia purpurea, but not the reverse.

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

What actually separates themon the record

Family Nyctaginaceae versus Sarraceniaceae. Different families, which is a real separation.
Genus Abronia versus Sarracenia.
Flowering Peaks in May versus June. If the plant is in flower, timing helps. (n = 1,165 and 2,130.)

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