What is one of the reasons why Gregor Mendel chose to study pea plants?

One of the primary reasons why Gregor Mendel chose to study pea plants is that they have distinct and easily observable traits that can be classified into two forms. Pea plants, or Pisum sativum, exhibit characteristics such as seed shape (round vs. wrinkled), flower color (purple vs. white), and pod shape (inflated vs. constricted), making it relatively simple for Mendel to track and analyze the inheritance patterns of these traits across generations.

Additionally, pea plants have a short generation time and can produce a large number of offspring, which helps in obtaining statistically significant results. The ability to control their fertilization through self-pollination and cross-pollination further allowed Mendel to conduct deliberate experiments and make systematic observations of how traits were passed down, leading to his foundational principles of heredity, now known as Mendel’s laws of inheritance.