Both Vitis

Vitis riparia vs Vitis rotundifolia

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, 6 times. We publish the rate, and then we tell you what actually separates them.

Confused 6x by our model Same genus Vitis Method published

Side by sidefigs. a and b

Vitis riparia, photographed by Violet T.
fig. a Violet T., CC BY 4.0

Vitis riparia

riverbank grape
Vitis rotundifolia, photographed by Leila Dasher
fig. b Leila Dasher, CC BY 4.0

Vitis rotundifolia

muscadine

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Vitis riparia Vitis rotundifolia 6 of 20 (30%)

The confusion runs one way only. The model mistakes Vitis riparia for Vitis rotundifolia, 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 Vitaceae. The family does not separate them.
Genus Both Vitis. Congeners, which is why this is hard.
Flowering Peaks in June versus May. If the plant is in flower, timing helps. (n = 201 and 124.)

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