Due to a worldwide increase in scientific literacy, most people are familiar with what a species is. They know that two different animals or plants are different species. However, breeding has produced subspecies which can confuse the issue somewhat. The ordinary potato and the sweet potato are completely unrelated, yet the incredibly varied dachshund, the Great Dane, and the old English sheepdog are all, astoundingly, the same species. Here are ten species whose members are just as unexpectedly varied.
Brassica oleracea is a species of leafy vegetable which we know in many different forms. It has been bred into a number of different subspecies, each with its own morphology and taste. Imagine sitting down to a meal of steamed broccoli, baked cauliflower, fried kale and cabbage, and Brussels sprouts. Every single one of these vegetables, despite looking and tasting different, is Brassica oleracea. Broccoli has been bred to accentuate the inner part whilst cabbage has been bred for its leaves. It does not take a stretch of the imagination to see that Brussels sprouts are, for the most part, miniaturized cabbages, and cauliflowers are largely paler broccolis. Kale are cabbages which have been bred to grow their leaves outwards instead of into a head. Nevertheless, all these vegetables are easily distinguished by taste, and their hugely different shapes and colors makes it surprising that they are all the exact same species.
