Mertensia ciliata vs Mertensia virginica
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.
Side by sidefigs. a and b
Mertensia ciliata
Mertensia virginica
How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated
| When the plant was | The model said | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Mertensia ciliata | Mertensia virginica | 7 of 20 (35%) |
The confusion runs one way only. The model mistakes Mertensia ciliata for Mertensia virginica, 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 Boraginaceae. The family does not separate them. |
|---|---|
| Genus | Both Mertensia. Congeners, which is why this is hard. |
| Flowering | Peaks in July versus April. If the plant is in flower, timing helps. (n = 975 and 13,852.) |
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.