Both Asteraceae

Ratibida pinnata vs Rudbeckia hirta

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

Ratibida pinnata, photographed by Eric Schmidt
fig. a Eric Schmidt, CC BY 4.0

Ratibida pinnata

grey-headed coneflower
Rudbeckia hirta, photographed by Ryan Sorrells
fig. b Ryan Sorrells, CC BY 4.0

Rudbeckia hirta

black-eyed Susan

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Ratibida pinnata Rudbeckia hirta 3 of 19 (16%)

The confusion runs one way only. The model mistakes Ratibida pinnata for Rudbeckia hirta, 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 Asteraceae. The family does not separate them.
Genus Ratibida versus Rudbeckia.
Flowering Peaks in July versus July. Timing does not separate them. (n = 1,707 and 21,866.)

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