Both Vicia

Vicia americana vs Vicia sativa

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 Vicia Method published

Side by sidefigs. a and b

Vicia americana, photographed by Marilynn Miller
fig. a Marilynn Miller, CC BY 4.0

Vicia americana

American vetch
Vicia sativa, photographed by Daniel Cahen
fig. b Daniel Cahen, CC BY 4.0

Vicia sativa

Common Vetch

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Vicia americana Vicia sativa 4 of 20 (20%)

The confusion runs one way only. The model mistakes Vicia americana for Vicia sativa, 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 Fabaceae. The family does not separate them.
Genus Both Vicia. Congeners, which is why this is hard.
Flowering Peaks in June versus April. If the plant is in flower, timing helps. (n = 1,848 and 8,231.)

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