Blog Post #9 (Ayla)

Of all the Brassica Oleracea plants, I believe the leaves present the largest variation.  For example, the Kale leaves are weirdly shaped, have a reddish hue, and are an average of 23cm in length.  The collard greens' leaves are 21cm in length are rounded and have light green veins.  Also the Broccoli leaves were 30cm in length and were similar to the collard greens' leaves.  The plants with the greatest range of variation were the collard greens and kale in my opinion.  One was completely rounded and light green while the other was like a squiggle shape that looked almost like a reddish green.

Collard Greens on the left and Kale on the right.

                                      
There are many forms of Brassica Oleracea thanks to artificial selection.  People chose which traits they found desirable in the plants and selectively bred them turn out how they wanted them to.  Eventually, the different cultivar start to develop different mutation and genes.  Sometimes species change even without the interference of humans called natural variations.  They endure descent with modification which passes genes from parent to offspring.

In my opinion, the color of the leaves are the most consistence throughout all the plant's leaves.  They may have different tints but all have an overall greenish color to them.  The plants are relatively similar but I think the leaf color is the most consistent throughout all of the cultivar.

In order to get desired characteristics in plants, scientists implant dominant genes in the plant's genetic makeup.  These plants are then selectively bred to make sure the desired trait appears how they want it to appear.  Because of this selective breeding, now there are many different cultivar of Brassica Oleracea.