Fabaceae and Anacardiaceae

Amphicarpaea bracteata vs Toxicodendron radicans

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

Confused 7x by our model Method published

Side by sidefigs. a and b

Amphicarpaea bracteata, photographed by Michelle Norcéide
fig. a Michelle Norcéide, CC BY 4.0

Amphicarpaea bracteata

American hog-peanut
Toxicodendron radicans, photographed by Mark G
fig. b Mark G, CC0 1.0

Toxicodendron radicans

eastern poison ivy

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Amphicarpaea bracteata Toxicodendron radicans 7 of 20 (35%)

The confusion runs one way only. The model mistakes Amphicarpaea bracteata for Toxicodendron radicans, but not the reverse.

Measured on 38,949 openly licensed, research-grade photographs. Full method and dataset.

What actually separates themon the record

Family Fabaceae versus Anacardiaceae. Different families, which is a real separation.
Genus Amphicarpaea versus Toxicodendron.
Flowering Peaks in August versus May. If the plant is in flower, timing helps. (n = 4,264 and 903.)

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