Question

Give the scientific name of the pea plant.

Answer 1

Pea plant is an angiosperm that belongs to the order of Fabaceae. It is grown worldwide for its protein-rich edible seeds. It has been extensively used by Gregor Mendel for his pioneering work on the inheritance of traits.

Complete step by step answer:
Pea is a leguminous plant that is a climber and reaches a height of 6 feet. The scientific name of the pea plant is Pisum sativum. This plant is famous for its use in hereditary experiments performed by Gregor Mendel.

Additional Information:
- Mendel chose the garden pea or Pisum sativum for his experiments since it had many advantages.
- It can be grown and cultivated very easily. It has many visible distinguishing characteristics like length, the color of the flower, the color of seeds.
- The process of self- pollination for getting pure plant was also easily possible as the flowers were bisexual.
- Along with this controlled pollination was also easy to do.
- The life span of the pea plant is also small and it produces a large number of seeds. They had the ideal survival rate and resistance to diseases
- They are herbaceous and annual plants, and therefore can be grown two to three times in a year.
- The characteristics of an organism are described as characters or traits. Traits studied by Mendel were clear cut and discrete. Such clear-cut, discrete characteristics are known as Mendelian characters. Mendel studied 7 characters of pea and they all had two variants.
- These are seed shape, seed color, flower color, flower position, plant height, pod shape, and pod color.

Note:
- With the help of the pea plant, Mendel proposed the principles of inheritance and gave three laws – the Law of dominance, Law of segregation, and the Law of Independent Assortment.
- He published these results of hybridization experiments in 1856. For his contributions in the field of genetics, he is regarded as the Father of Genetics.