Both Eriogonum

Eriogonum fasciculatum vs Eriogonum parvifolium

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 Same genus Eriogonum Method published

Side by sidefigs. a and b

Eriogonum fasciculatum, photographed by Jess Mullins
fig. a Jess Mullins, CC BY 4.0

Eriogonum fasciculatum

California Buckwheat
Eriogonum parvifolium, photographed by Cricket Raspet
fig. b Cricket Raspet, CC BY 4.0

Eriogonum parvifolium

Seacliff Wild Buckwheat

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Eriogonum parvifolium Eriogonum fasciculatum 6 of 20 (30%)

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

What actually separates themon the record

Family Both Polygonaceae. The family does not separate them.
Genus Both Eriogonum. Congeners, which is why this is hard.
Flowering Peaks in May versus July. If the plant is in flower, timing helps. (n = 5,441 and 894.)

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