Hydrophyllaceae and Berberidaceae

Hydrophyllum tenuipes vs Podophyllum peltatum

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

Confused 4x by our model Method published

Side by sidefigs. a and b

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Hydrophyllum tenuipes Podophyllum peltatum 4 of 20 (20%)

The confusion runs one way only. The model mistakes Hydrophyllum tenuipes for Podophyllum peltatum, but not the reverse.

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

What actually separates themon the record

Family Hydrophyllaceae versus Berberidaceae. Different families, which is a real separation.
Genus Hydrophyllum versus Podophyllum.
Flowering Peaks in May versus May. Timing does not separate them. (n = 326 and 4,148.)

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