Poaceae and Polygonaceae

Briza maxima vs Eriogonum fasciculatum

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

Confused 6x by our model Method published

Side by sidefigs. a and b

Briza maxima, photographed by Rafael Medina
fig. a Rafael Medina, CC BY 4.0

Briza maxima

Greater Quaking Grass
Eriogonum fasciculatum, photographed by Jess Mullins
fig. b Jess Mullins, CC BY 4.0

Eriogonum fasciculatum

California Buckwheat

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Briza maxima Eriogonum fasciculatum 6 of 19 (32%)

The confusion runs one way only. The model mistakes Briza maxima for Eriogonum fasciculatum, but not the reverse.

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

What actually separates themon the record

Family Poaceae versus Polygonaceae. Different families, which is a real separation.
Genus Briza versus Eriogonum.
Flowering Peaks in October versus July. If the plant is in flower, timing helps. (n = 389 and 3,446.)

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