Both Brassicaceae

Brassica rapa vs Erysimum capitatum

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

Brassica rapa, photographed by E. A.
fig. a E. A., CC BY 4.0

Brassica rapa

field mustard
Erysimum capitatum, photographed by Bob Walker
fig. b Bob Walker, CC BY 4.0

Erysimum capitatum

Western Wallflower

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Brassica rapa Erysimum capitatum 3 of 19 (16%)

The confusion runs one way only. The model mistakes Brassica rapa for Erysimum capitatum, but not the reverse.

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

What actually separates themon the record

Family Both Brassicaceae. The family does not separate them.
Genus Brassica versus Erysimum.
Flowering Peaks in October versus January. If the plant is in flower, timing helps. (n = 710 and 1,633.)

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