A Matter of Selection- Jenny

       All of the Brassica Oleracea plants in the WGHS GOLD Main Garden are different. The topic that I decided to focus on was leaf shape. After studying all the plants, I could see a variation between many of the plants that live there.
       The characteristics that are most similar between these plants are the leaf color and leaf shape. They all have a greenish quality to leaves and all have similar qualities in shape. The characteristic that are different are the shape of the plant. Each plant has a different shape to it and some are bigger than others.

 The plant to the left has oval shaped leaves. These leaves have curled edges and are a forest green color. These are simple leaves, which means that the plant only has one leaf per stem. The leaves are corrugated, and wrinkly as well.

This plant is very different yet very similar to the plant above.  These leaves (instead of being all green) are tinted with purple and green. These leaves could be considered Caerulescent, meaning that they are blue tinted.

These leaves are very different from the other leaves. These leaves are also wrinkly, but they have lots of frills. Each individual leaf has lots of parts coming out. It has a greenish purplish color, and has purple roots.

These leaves are a fuscous color. This means that it has a grayish blue color. These leaves are bumpy and narrow. The stems of this plants are a citreous color, meaning that it is yellowish. The leaves have a very bumpy texture, and are very different and similar to the platens above. 














       Because of the data collected above, you can tell that these plants are very alike and very different. This is because of many things. One of the things that changes these plants is adaptation. Adaptation is when an organism changes in order to survive in a certain environment. These plants might have also been artificially changed to be more desirable. Mutations will also affect these plants. Mutations are when the genes are changed and could result in a harmful or non-harmful way. 
       The characteristic that is the most similar is the color of the plants. All the plants have a similar color. The pictures below are all the plants in the garden. As you can see, all of the plants have a green color to them. Even though the color may be a different shade of green, they all have the same quality to them.

       In order for scientists to genetically modify the plants to get the color they want them to be, they have to breed a large population of plants. If you breed enough plants together, you will eventually end up with the desired traits that you were looking for. Because you have a large population and the right traits to breed, you can create the kind of plant or animal you want.