UNION index use help

Ok, I'm thoroughly confused.

Simple query:

tb3=> explain analyze select bin, alias as symbol from alias_hs a join
bin_hs using (id,source) where upper(alias) like 'PPARG';
QUERY PLAN
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Nested Loop (cost=0.00..20.05 rows=1 width=19) (actual
time=0.114..0.118 rows=1 loops=1)
-> Index Scan using idx_alias_hs_alias on alias_hs a
(cost=0.00..9.02 rows=2 width=29) (actual time=0.073..0.074 rows=1
loops=1)
Index Cond: (upper(alias) ~=~ 'PPARG'::text)
Filter: (upper(alias) ~~ 'PPARG'::text)
-> Index Scan using idx_bin_hs_id_source on bin_hs (cost=0.00..5.50
rows=1 width=28) (actual time=0.035..0.037 rows=1 loops=1)
Index Cond: ((("outer".id)::text = (bin_hs.id)::text) AND
(("outer".source)::text = (bin_hs.source)::text))
Total runtime: 0.167 ms
(7 rows)

A very similar query:

tb3=> explain analyze select bin,symbol from gene_hs g join bin_hs b on
(gene_id = id) where upper(symbol) like 'PPARG';
QUERY PLAN
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Nested Loop (cost=0.00..20.03 rows=2 width=18) (actual
time=0.068..0.073 rows=1 loops=1)
-> Index Scan using idx_gene_hs_symbol on gene_hs g
(cost=0.00..9.01 rows=2 width=19) (actual time=0.031..0.032 rows=1
loops=1)
Index Cond: (upper((symbol)::text) ~=~ 'PPARG'::character
varying)
Filter: (upper((symbol)::text) ~~ 'PPARG'::text)
-> Index Scan using idx_bin_hs_id_source on bin_hs b
(cost=0.00..5.50 rows=1 width=19) (actual time=0.030..0.032 rows=1
loops=1)
Index Cond: (("outer".gene_id)::text = (b.id)::text)
Total runtime: 0.119 ms
(7 rows)

Now I create a union over the two of them:

create view test as
select bin, alias as symbol from alias_hs a join bin_hs using
(id,source)
union all
select bin,symbol from gene_hs g join bin_hs b on (gene_id = id)

tb3=> explain analyze select * from test where upper(symbol) like
'PPARG';

QUERY PLAN

------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------
Subquery Scan test (cost=0.00..13327.60 rows=253 width=40) (actual
time=479.139..1380.005 rows=2 loops=1)
Filter: (upper(symbol) ~~ 'PPARG'::text)
-> Append (cost=0.00..12570.37 rows=50482 width=19) (actual
time=0.055..1194.445 rows=80610 loops=1)
-> Subquery Scan "*SELECT* 1" (cost=0.00..7051.67 rows=17627
width=19) (actual time=0.054..742.596 rows=47755 loops=1)
-> Merge Join (cost=0.00..6875.40 rows=17627 width=19)
(actual time=0.052..677.190 rows=47755 loops=1)
Merge Cond: (("outer".id)::text =
("inner".id)::text)
Join Filter: (("outer".source)::text =
("inner".source)::text)
-> Index Scan using idx_alias_hs_id on alias_hs a
(cost=0.00..2501.30 rows=72214 width=29) (actual time=0.023..98.377
rows=72214 loops=1)
-> Index Scan using idx_bin_hs_id_source on bin_hs
(cost=0.00..7819.21 rows=172194 width=28) (actual time=0.015..221.023
rows=61520 loops=1)
-> Subquery Scan "*SELECT* 2" (cost=827.69..5518.70
rows=32855 width=18) (actual time=77.123..382.122 rows=32855 loops=1)
-> Hash Join (cost=827.69..5190.15 rows=32855 width=18)
(actual time=77.119..340.501 rows=32855 loops=1)
Hash Cond: (("outer".id)::text =
("inner".gene_id)::text)
-> Seq Scan on bin_hs b (cost=0.00..3172.94
rows=172194 width=19) (actual time=3.464..106.064 rows=86097 loops=1)
-> Hash (cost=745.55..745.55 rows=32855 width=19)
(actual time=72.237..72.237 rows=0 loops=1)
-> Seq Scan on gene_hs g (cost=0.00..745.55
rows=32855 width=19) (actual time=0.012..41.666 rows=32855 loops=1)
Total runtime: 1381.068 ms
(16 rows)

I can't figure out what is going on here.

Just in case here are the table structures:

tb3=> \d bin_hs
Table "core.bin_hs"
Column | Type | Modifiers
---------+-----------------------+------------------------
bin | bigint | not null
source | character varying(15) | not null
id | character varying(25) | not null
current | boolean | not null default false
Indexes:
"idx_bin_hs_bin" btree (bin)
"idx_bin_hs_id_source" btree (id, source)

tb3=> \d gene_hs
Table "core.gene_hs"
Column | Type | Modifiers
---------+-----------------------+-----------
gene_id | character varying(25) | not null
symbol | character varying(50) | not null
name | text |
Indexes:
"gene_hs_pkey" PRIMARY KEY, btree (gene_id)
"idx_gene_hs_symbol" btree (upper(symbol::text) varchar_pattern_ops)

tb3=> \d alias_hs
Table "core.alias_hs"
Column | Type | Modifiers
--------+-----------------------+-----------
id | character varying(25) |
source | character varying(15) |
alias | text |
Indexes:
"idx_alias_hs_alias" btree (upper(alias) text_pattern_ops)
"idx_alias_hs_id" btree (id)

Am I doing something really stupid?

Thanks,
Dmitri
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