Understanding Mendel's Conclusions from Monohybrid Crosses

Explanation: One conclusion that Gregor Mendel did NOT reach based on his monohybrid crosses was the notion of the blending of traits. Through his experiments, particularly the one involving plants true-breeding for violet flower color and plants true-breeding for white flower color, Mendel showed that traits do not blend but instead are inherited discretely. His experiments resulted in the first generation (F1) always showing the dominant trait (violet flowers) and the recessive trait (white flowers) reappearing in the second generation (F2) in a predictable 3:1 ratio when the F1 generation was self-crossed.

The observation that traits are not blended but are passed down as distinct units is a key principle of Mendel's laws of inheritance. In other words, Mendel's work refuted the idea that offspring would have a mix or intermediate form of the parents' traits (such as light purple flowers as a blend between violet and white). Instead, the offspring expressed either the dominant or recessive trait without any blending.

This was evident not just in flower color but in all seven characteristics Mendel examined, such as pea seed color and texture. The reappearance of the recessive traits in the F2 generation was critical evidence for the particulate nature of inheritance, which was contrary to the prevailing theory of blending inheritance at the time.