Ericaceae and Burseraceae
Arbutus menziesii vs Bursera simaruba
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, 4 times. We publish the rate, and then we tell you what actually separates them.
Confused 4x by our model Method published
Side by sidefigs. a and b
Arbutus menziesii
Pacific madrone
Bursera simaruba
Gumbo Limbo
How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated
| When the plant was | The model said | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Bursera simaruba | Arbutus menziesii | 4 of 19 (21%) |
Measured on 38,299 openly licensed, research-grade photographs. Full method and dataset.
What actually separates themon the record
| Family | Ericaceae versus Burseraceae. Different families, which is a real separation. |
|---|---|
| Genus | Arbutus versus Bursera. |
| Flowering | Peaks in April versus April. Timing does not separate them. (n = 1,037 and 43.) |
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.