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Greek mythology mentions many plants and flowers, [122] where for example the lotus tree bears a fruit that causes a pleasant drowsiness, [123] while moly is a magic herb mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey with a black root and white blossoms. [124] Magic plants are found, too, in Serbian mythology, where the raskovnik is supposed to be able to ...
Convergent evolution—the repeated evolution of similar traits in multiple lineages which all ancestrally lack the trait—is rife in nature, as illustrated by the examples below. The ultimate cause of convergence is usually a similar evolutionary biome , as similar environments will select for similar traits in any species occupying the same ...
In genetics, the breeding of pea plants allowed Gregor Mendel to derive the basic laws governing inheritance, [23] and examination of chromosomes in maize allowed Barbara McClintock to demonstrate their connection to inherited traits. [24] The plant Arabidopsis thaliana is used in laboratories as a model organism to understand how genes control ...
The most well known examples are antibiotic resistance in the medical field along with better-known laboratory experiments documenting evolution's occurrence. Natural selection is tantamount to common descent in that long-term occurrence and selection pressures can lead to the diversity of life on earth as found today.
Many aspects of an animal or plant can be correctly called adaptations, though there are always some features whose function remains in doubt. By using the term adaptation for the evolutionary process, and adaptive trait for the bodily part or function (the product), one may distinguish the two different senses of the word. [14] [15] [16] [17]
Mendel studied "trait inheritance", patterns in the way traits are handed down from parents to offspring over time. He observed that organisms (pea plants) inherit traits by way of discrete "units of inheritance". This term, still used today, is a somewhat ambiguous definition of what is referred to as a gene.
Due to their long association with humans, dogs have evolved the ability to thrive on a starch-rich diet, which would be inadequate for other canid species. Image credits: MaroonTrucker28 #37
The blooming times of the flowers have also been found to coincide with hummingbirds' breeding seasons. The floral characteristics of ornithophilous plants vary greatly among each other compared to closely related insect-pollinated species. These flowers also tend to be more ornate, complex, and showy than their insect pollinated counterparts.