Gregor Mendel

• What type of plant did Mendel choose for his experiments?

  Garden peas
• Why were garden peas considered ideal for Mendel's experiments?

  Because a wide range of varieties was available, they are easy to cultivate, and fertilisation is easily controlled
• What was the result of Mendel's cross between a pure-breeding purple-flowered plant and a white-flowered plant?

  All the plants produced purple plants
• What did Mendel do after collecting and sowing the seeds from the initial cross?

  He allowed the purple-flowered plants to self-fertilise and then collected their seeds to grow new plants
• What hypothesis did Mendel suggest regarding the inheritance of characteristics?

  He suggested that the inheritance of each characteristic was in 'units', which were passed on to descendants
• What traits did Mendel identify in his experiments and their dominance?

  • Purple flower (dominant), white flower (recessive)
  • Tall (dominant), short (recessive)
  • Yellow seed colour (dominant), green seed colour (recessive)