Both Claytonia

Claytonia caroliniana vs Claytonia lanceolata

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

Confused 10x by our model Same genus Claytonia Method published

Side by sidefigs. a and b

Claytonia caroliniana, photographed by Mary E. Macaulay, P.Eng.
fig. a Mary E. Macaulay, P.Eng., CC BY 4.0

Claytonia caroliniana

Carolina Springbeauty
Claytonia lanceolata, photographed by mfeaver
fig. b mfeaver, CC BY 4.0

Claytonia lanceolata

Lanceleaf Springbeauty

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Claytonia lanceolata Claytonia caroliniana 10 of 20 (50%)

Measured on 38,299 openly licensed, research-grade photographs. Full method and dataset.

What actually separates themon the record

Family Both Montiaceae. The family does not separate them.
Genus Both Claytonia. Congeners, which is why this is hard.
Flowering Peaks in April versus April. Timing does not separate them. (n = 5,162 and 1,362.)

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