Brambles and Their Adaptations on Mount Royal
Brambles (genus Rubus) are a group of flowering and/or ruit bearing plants, which often have thorns protruding from their thin woody stems. On the OneZoom phylogenetic tree, they fall on the "Rose family” branch. Some common brambles include the Bakeapple, Black raspberries, Purpleflowering raspberries, Salmonberries, the Japanese wineberry, and the Western thimbleberry.
In terms of adaptations, while the all of the plants in the Rubus family each have their own speficic characteristics which evolved through natural selection, as the plants of this family are all inter-connected (through the rose family), they will inherently share aspects of their adaptations with one another. For example, most plants of the Rubus family produce what is commonly called the “bramble fruit” (blackberries, raspberries, and dewberries are all examples of bramble fruit). Plants of the Rubus family maintain their existence through the production of their fruit, as they cultivate a symbiotic relationship with the animals around them with the aim of propagating seed dispersal.
With reference to all 10 of my observations, a shared adaptation amongst the plants of Mount Royal would relate to surface water erosion. Water erosion causes the detachment of soil (and soil material), which can uproot and disrupt plant life. With the effort of maintaining their survival, all of my observed plants would have needed to (/ would be in the process of) evolve (/evolving) to have stronger and longer roots, which would help combat the effects of displacement due to water erosion. This type of evolution would also work to further all of my observed plants’ genealogy through soil domination.
