Both Fabaceae
Medicago lupulina vs Trifolium aureum
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, 7 times. We publish the rate, and then we tell you what actually separates them.
Confused 7x by our model Method published
Side by sidefigs. a and b
Medicago lupulina
Black Medick
Trifolium aureum
large hop clover
How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated
| When the plant was | The model said | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Trifolium aureum | Medicago lupulina | 7 of 20 (35%) |
Measured on 38,949 openly licensed, research-grade photographs. Full method and dataset.
What actually separates themon the record
| Family | Both Fabaceae. The family does not separate them. |
|---|---|
| Genus | Medicago versus Trifolium. |
| Flowering | Peaks in June versus October. If the plant is in flower, timing helps. (n = 6,026 and 929.) |
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.