Lots of plants were available, so why specifically peas? My exam often asks for these reasons and I want a proper list.
Mendel chose the garden pea (Pisum sativum) for several practical reasons. First, it has many clearly contrasting traits, like tall versus dwarf and round versus wrinkled seeds, which are easy to observe and score. Second, the pea is normally self-pollinating, which gives naturally pure-breeding lines, but he could also easily carry out artificial cross-pollination by hand when needed. Third, the flowers are bisexual and their structure keeps them closed, preventing unwanted pollination by insects. Fourth, peas have a short life cycle and produce many seeds in one generation, so he could study several generations quickly and get large numbers for reliable statistical ratios. Finally, the hybrids produced were fertile, allowing him to continue crosses into later generations. These features made the pea ideal for clean, repeatable results.
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