When the offspring in Mendel’s experiment were self-crossed, the F 2 offspring exhibited the dominant trait or the recessive trait in a 3:1 ratio, confirming that the recessive trait had been transmitted faithfully… Observable traits are referred to as dominant, and non-expressed traits are described as recessive.

Reciprocal crosses generated identical F 1 and F 2 offspring ratios. Working with garden pea plants, Mendel found that crosses between parents that differed by one trait produced F 1 offspring that all expressed the traits of one parent.

recessive — trait that appears “latent” or non-expressed when the individual also carries a dominant trait for that same characteristic; when present as two identical copies, the recessive…. F 2 — second filial generation produced when F 1 individuals are self-crossed or fertilized with each other. dominant — trait which confers the same physical appearance whether an individual has two copies of the trait or one copy of the dominant trait and one copy of the recessive trait. product rule — probability of two independent events occurring simultaneously can be calculated by multiplying the individual probabilities of each event occurring alone.