Think about the apples we eat. They are in the genus Malus which is a member of the rose family, Rosaceae, along with roses, peaches, cherries, and even strawberries plus many other familiar plants. Almost all members of this family are trees or shrubs, and we are certain that the ancient ancestor was also a tree. If we are correct, is woodiness an apomorphy or plesiomorphy for the rose family? Being herbaceous is something new and rare in this family. Is it a plesiomorphy or an apomorphy? Apples, strawberries, and most other members of Rosaceae do not have a pit, but peaches and cherries do. We think this is a new character that originated just once, not in the ancestor of all the rose family but just in the ancestor of peach, cherries, apricots, and plums. If we are correct, is having a pit a symplesiomorphy, a synapomorphy, or a homoplasy? Rose bushes have spines and so do cacti, but the two families are not closely related. The spines of roses did not evolve from the same ancestral structure that cactus spines evolved from. The spines in these two families are a _______________________ and do not indicate that the families are closely related.