- 01MENDEL’S PRINCIPLES OF HEREDITY
Experiments on Plant Hybridization
by Gregor Mendel · 1866 · 12 chapters · 24/7 tutor
Foundational laws of inheritance.
This course was produced by Cavua from a public-domain text.
Skills this course leaves you with.
- Explain Mendel’s core principles of heredity and how they emerged from plant breeding experiments
- Interpret dominant and recessive traits using pea and Hieracium hybridization examples
- Analyze the segregation of hybrid offspring across successive generations
- Describe the role of gametes, allelomorphs, and pure lines in inheritance
- Compare Mendelian inheritance with ancestral heredity and identify key exceptions
- Evaluate the historical significance of Mendel’s work and Bateson’s defense of it
The full table of contents.
Every chapter, every lesson, every topic — laid out before you enroll. Click any chapter to expand it.
- Chapters
- 12
- Lessons
- 67
- Topics
- 134
- 01CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, AVE MARIA LANE,
- 01GREGOR MENDEL
- 01A DEFENCE · W. BATESON, M.A., F.R.S. WITH A TRANSLATION OF MENDEL’S ORIGINAL · PAPERS ON HYBRIDISATION. CAMBRIDGE:
- 01PRINTED BY J. AND C. F. CLAY, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
- 01Mendel’s rediscovery and the need to spread it
- 02Reply to Professor Weldon and the case for immediate publication
- 01The Problems of Heredity and Their Solution
- 02Mendel’s Experiments in Plant Hybridisation
- 03Mendel’s Experiments with Hieracium
- 04A Defence of Mendel’s Principles of Heredity
- 01Need for systematic study of heredity
- 02Limits of current knowledge of hereditary mechanisms
- 01Statistical laws of heredity
- 02Galton’s studies of stature and Basset hounds
- 01Galton’s law of heredity and its limits
- 02de Vries’s experiments on discontinuous variation
- 03Mendel’s experiments on Pisum sativum
- 01Dominant and recessive characters in pea crosses
- 01Segregation of dominant, cross-bred, and recessive offspring
- 02Dihybrid crosses and the 9:3:3:1 ratio
- 03Why Mendel's law was overlooked
- 01Experimental confirmations of Mendel’s law
- 02Purity of germ-cells and inheritance
- 01Choosing simple experimental subjects
- 02Ancestral heredity and alternative inheritance
- 03Pure-breeding and uniform offspring
- 04Dissimilar germ-cells and experimental outcomes
- 01Cross-breeding and blended inheritance
- 02Galton’s law of ancestral heredity
- 01Law of ancestral heredity and gamete assumptions
- 02Mendelian inheritance in pure varieties and heterozygotes
- 03Dominance, blending, and intermediate cross-bred characters
- 01Unit-characters, allelomorphs, and compound characters
- 01Analytical and synthetical variations
- 01Limits of Mendelian principles and exceptional cases
- 01Early botanical notes and later public roles
- 02First scientific references to Mendel's work
- 03Why Mendel's discovery was neglected
- 04Naudin, Bentham, and Wichura on heredity
- 01Rediscovery and significance of Mendel’s work
- 01Introductory Remarks
- 01Division of the experiments by contrasting pea characters
- 02Selected pea traits for hybridisation experiments
- 01Cross-fertilisation procedure and controls
- 02Dominant and recessive hybrid characters
- 03List of dominant traits in pea hybrids
- 04Variation in hybrid seed-coat spotting and seed-shape
- 01Segregation of dominant and recessive characters
- 02Experimental ratios across seed, pod, flower, and stem traits
- 03Variation within pods and individual plants
- 04Average 3:1 ratio and meaning of dominant characters
- 05Beginning of the second generation
- 01The Second Generation [Bred] from the Hybrids
- 01The Subsequent Generations [Bred] from the Hybrids
- 01The offspring of hybrids in which several differentiating characters are associated
- 01The reproductive cells of hybrids
- 01Experiments with hybrids of other species of plants
- 01Phaseolus nanus × Phaseolus multiflorus hybrid colour variation
- 02Cultivated plant variability and hybrid colour series
- 03Concluding remarks on Mendel's hybrid observations
- 01Hybrid offspring and reversion to parent types
- 02Limits of judging hybrid resemblance
- 03Constant hybrids as new species
- 04Cellular explanation of hybrid variability
- 01Hypothesis on hybrid development and cell elements
- 02Transformation of one species into another by artificial fertilisation
- 03Asymmetry in transformation experiments and species stability
- 01Preliminary remarks on the genus Hieracium
- 01Hybridisation and the origin of intermediate forms
- 02Structure of the hybrids
- 03Fertility, self-fertilisation, and offspring
- 01Comparison with Pisum hybrids
- 02Stable Hieracium hybrid posterity
- 03Polymorphism in Salix and Hieracium
- 01Mendel’s law and the limits of ancestral heredity
- 02Critique of Weldon’s restatement of Mendel
- 03Saunders and Bateson’s reply to Weldon
- 01Critique of the title and scope of Mendel’s laws
- 02Galton-Pearson law of ancestral heredity
- 03Mendelian purity of germ-cells versus ancestral heredity
- 01Alternative inheritance and discontinuous variation
- 02Mendel’s principle and gametic purity
- 03The critic’s version of dominance
- 01Dominance in peas and Mendel’s law
- 02Cotyledon-colour and seed-coat colour
- 03Round and wrinkled seed shape
- 01Seed shape, dimorphism, and multiple allelomorphs
- 02Exceptional variation and recurring sports in peas
- 03Mendelian interpretation of variability
- 01Mendel’s laws and variability
- 02Cross-bred seed characters in first crosses
- 03Exceptional results and causes of variation
- 01Analysis of exceptions
- 02The mule or heterozygote
- 01The hybrid-character of the mule form
- 01Dominance is not universally regular
- 02Professor Weldon’s evidence on cotyledon colour and xenia
- 01Gärtner’s pea-crossing cases and xenia ambiguity
- 01Gärtner’s seed-coat observations
- 02Seton’s pea-cross case
- 01Buchsbaum, Telephone, and Couturier cases
- 01Seed-coat colour and dominance in pea crosses
- 01Rimpau’s cases of wrinkled and round peas
- 01Grey peas and seed-shape dominance
- 02First-cross observations in grey and sugar peas
- 01Knight’s pea-cross experiments
- 01Laxton’s cross-bred pea experiment
- 02Interpretation of pea heredity under Mendel’s principles
- 01Maternal seed-form and Telephone peas
- 02Stocks and flower-colour crosses
- 03Datura and Mendelian inheritance
- 04Rats, mice, and von Fischer's claims
- 01Weldon’s quotations from Laxton
- 01VI. The Argument Built on Exceptions
- 01Ancestry and Dominance
- 01Ancestry and purity of germ-cells
- 01The value of the appeal to Ancestry
- 01The appeal to ancestry
- 01Absolute purity of germ-cells
- 01Analytical breeding and reappearance of components
- 02Closing defence of Mendel’s principles
- 01Bibliography of hybridization and heredity studies
- 02Received as this sheet goes to press
- 03Notes on Weldon, Pearson, and Mendelian interpretation
- 04Pea characters, xenia, and reciprocal crosses
- 01Recessive flower colour and seed-coat colour
- 02Recessive seed-shape as a maternal character
- 01Critique of Laxton’s inheritance statements
- 02Masters, Haage and Schmidt, and other reported exceptions
- 01False hybridisations and seed-characters
- 02Separation and recombination of hypallelomorphs
- 03Exceptions to dominance and purity
- 01No universal dominance in eye-colour
01How many chapters are in the Experiments on Plant Hybridization course?
The Experiments on Plant Hybridization course has 12 chapters, each with its own lessons and topics.
02How many lessons are in the Experiments on Plant Hybridization course?
There are 67 lessons across the course, and you can ask your 24/7 tutor about any of them.
03Can I see what the Experiments on Plant Hybridization course covers before I start?
Yes. The full curriculum is listed on this page, beginning with "MENDEL’S PRINCIPLES OF HEREDITY".
04Do I get a certificate for the Experiments on Plant Hybridization course?
Yes. Finishing the course earns a personal Cavua certificate of completion.
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Updated Oct 2026
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