Question

Identify the odd ones out with respect to Mendel’s chosen characters for experiments on garden pea plants.
Flower colour, Flower position, Plant height, Leaf position, Pod colour, Pod size, Seed colour.

• A. Flower colour, plant height, pod size
• B. Leaf position and pod size
• C. Flower position, leaf position and seed colour
• D. Leaf position only

Answer 1

The correct option is B Leaf position and pod size

One of the reasons Mendel selected pea plant for his experiments was the presence of a number of visible characters with contrasting traits. Seven such characters were selected by Mendel for the experiments. He was very interested in creating hybrids of the plants with these characters. The seven characters were - plant height (tall or dwarf), pod shape (inflated or constricted), seed shape (round or wrinkled), seed colour (green or yellow), flower colour (violet or white), position of flowers (axial or terminal) and pod colour (green or yellow). In the list given in the question, leaf position and pod size are the odd ones since they were not a part of the seven characters selected by Mendel.