Plantaginaceae and Poaceae
Plantago coronopus vs Poa annua
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, 3 times. We publish the rate, and then we tell you what actually separates them.
Confused 3x by our model Method published
Side by sidefigs. a and b
Plantago coronopus
Buck's-horn Plantain
Poa annua
Annual Meadow-grass
How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated
| When the plant was | The model said | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Poa annua | Plantago coronopus | 3 of 17 (18%) |
Measured on 38,299 openly licensed, research-grade photographs. Full method and dataset.
What actually separates themon the record
| Family | Plantaginaceae versus Poaceae. Different families, which is a real separation. |
|---|---|
| Genus | Plantago versus Poa. |
| Flowering | Peaks in May versus April. If the plant is in flower, timing helps. (n = 863 and 1,084.) |
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.