<P> Mendel worked with seven characteristics of pea plants : plant height , pod shape and color , seed shape and color , and flower position and color . Taking seed color as an example , Mendel showed that when a true - breeding yellow pea and a true - breeding green pea were cross-bred their offspring always produced yellow seeds . However , in the next generation , the green peas reappeared at a ratio of 1 green to 3 yellow . To explain this phenomenon , Mendel coined the terms `` recessive '' and `` dominant '' in reference to certain traits . ( In the preceding example , the green trait , which seems to have vanished in the first filial generation , is recessive and the yellow is dominant . ) He published his work in 1866 , demonstrating the actions of invisible `` factors '' -- now called genes -- in predictably determining the traits of an organism . </P>
who is the father of genetics and what did he study
Mendel pea plants