Asparagaceae and Liliaceae

Polygonatum biflorum vs Streptopus amplexifolius

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

Polygonatum biflorum, photographed by Brian Finzel
fig. a Brian Finzel, CC BY-SA 4.0

Polygonatum biflorum

smooth Solomon's seal
Streptopus amplexifolius, photographed by Bruce Cook
fig. b Bruce Cook, CC0 1.0

Streptopus amplexifolius

white twisted-stalk

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Streptopus amplexifolius Polygonatum biflorum 4 of 20 (20%)

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

What actually separates themon the record

Family Asparagaceae versus Liliaceae. Different families, which is a real separation.
Genus Polygonatum versus Streptopus.
Flowering Peaks in June versus June. Timing does not separate them. (n = 390 and 290.)

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