Both Juglans

Juglans hindsii vs Juglans nigra

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 Juglans Method published

Side by sidefigs. a and b

Juglans hindsii, photographed by Rick Mandel
fig. a Rick Mandel, CC BY 4.0

Juglans hindsii

northern California black walnut
Juglans nigra, photographed by Violet T.
fig. b Violet T., CC BY 4.0

Juglans nigra

eastern black walnut

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Juglans hindsii Juglans nigra 6 of 18 (33%)

The confusion runs one way only. The model mistakes Juglans hindsii for Juglans nigra, but not the reverse.

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

What actually separates themon the record

Family Both Juglandaceae. The family does not separate them.
Genus Both Juglans. Congeners, which is why this is hard.
Flowering Peaks in April versus May. If the plant is in flower, timing helps. (n = 32 and 176.)

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