Blog post #9 -- A matter of selection

              The size and shape of the leaves in the brassica oleracea family show the most variation. The two most polar opposite plants in this family would be kale and cauliflower. The Kale's leaves are thin and have ridges every so often while the cauliflower exhibits wide leaves that curve at the edges. Their length is about the same ranging from 22 cm to 24 cm, but the cauliflower's leaves are much wider. they measure each about 20 cm wide while the kale is only 11 or 10 cm wide.
            I believe that this is due to selective breeding and mutations. Because the plants were always in the same geographic area, descent with modification would be harder to encounter. The decrease in bees has definitely caused some changes in which species have bred more. This selective breeding lead to mutations in the wild cabbage that later created many different variations.
          Most of the b. oleracea that has blossomed looks the same. For example, the kohlrabi and cauliflower both had tall, yellow blossoms. Not many of the plants were in their full adult form yet so I could not tell which of them would show the same flowerings. The blossoms were close together in both cases and almost identical to other Kohlrabi organisms.
         For plant breeders to get desired characteristics into plants, they must selectively breed two plants with the traits they choose. If a botanist were to want another gene in their gene pool, they would have to introduce a separate brassica oleracea plant who can breed with a different blossoming.