Blog post 8

1.  When I measured the Brassica plant, the anatomy from the other group's plants in was way off comparison.  The biggest difference between the plants were the leafs and the form/shape of them.  Some of the leafs had some kind of coating on them to repel water.  Some of the leafs have little spikes on the rim and some have round like edges.

2. I feel that there is so much variability in the domestic forms of Brassica oleracea for several reasons.  First of all, plants produce specific traits such as the color of their leaves.  These traits are a result of selective breeding.  This is where the offspring of the plant's phenotypes are selected.  This process is known as artificial selection.  It is considered artificial as the process isn't being being done naturally by the plant.  The plant over time will go through mutations which is a sign of change and growth.  Genes and traits are passed down from the parent plant to the offspring because of decent with modification.  Plants adapt to their surroundings and produce different characteristics naturally in nature because of natural variation.

3.  In general, the sizes of the plants seem very consistent.  I think that the plants have the same anatomy structure because they all come down from one ancestor plant that started it all.  Even though the traits changed, there are still some specific genes that were brought down to the present plants today.  I measured the stems of the plants and they were all about the same length, although
 they were off by a couple of centimeters.

4.  Using selective breeding, they would have to cross the Brassica plant with a taller plant to show mutation and evolution like a sunflower plant.  Having a taller plant would allow the plants' traits to change.