Both Rhamnaceae
Ceanothus cuneatus vs Rhamnus crocea
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, 5 times. We publish the rate, and then we tell you what actually separates them.
Confused 5x by our model Method published
Side by sidefigs. a and b
Ceanothus cuneatus
Buckbrush
Rhamnus crocea
Redberry Buckthorn
How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated
| When the plant was | The model said | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Rhamnus crocea | Ceanothus cuneatus | 5 of 20 (25%) |
Measured on 38,299 openly licensed, research-grade photographs. Full method and dataset.
What actually separates themon the record
| Family | Both Rhamnaceae. The family does not separate them. |
|---|---|
| Genus | Ceanothus versus Rhamnus. |
| Flowering | Peaks in March versus April. If the plant is in flower, timing helps. (n = 1,259 and 310.) |
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.