Both Solanum

Solanum dimidiatum vs Solanum elaeagnifolium

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 Same genus Solanum Method published

Side by sidefigs. a and b

Solanum dimidiatum, photographed by Michelle W. (鍾偉瑋)
fig. a Michelle W. (鍾偉瑋), CC BY 4.0

Solanum dimidiatum

western horsenettle
Solanum elaeagnifolium, photographed by Christopher
fig. b Christopher, CC0 1.0

Solanum elaeagnifolium

silverleaf nightshade

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Solanum dimidiatum Solanum elaeagnifolium 4 of 16 (25%)

The confusion runs one way only. The model mistakes Solanum dimidiatum for Solanum elaeagnifolium, but not the reverse.

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

What actually separates themon the record

Family Both Solanaceae. The family does not separate them.
Genus Both Solanum. Congeners, which is why this is hard.
Flowering Peaks in May versus June. If the plant is in flower, timing helps. (n = 277 and 3,657.)

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