Final answer:
Incomplete dominance is a pattern of inheritance where a heterozygous genotype expresses an intermediate phenotype rather than showing a dominant trait, resulting in an apparent blending of traits, as seen in the pink flowers of heterozygous snapdragons.
Step-by-step explanation:
The concept being asked about concerns incomplete dominance, a type of genetic inheritance. Incomplete dominance occurs when a heterozygous genotype results in a phenotype that is a blend or intermediate of the phenotypes typically associated with the dominant and recessive alleles. Instead of fully expressing the dominant trait, the presence of the recessive allele influences the phenotype to produce a combined or intermediate trait expression. The incomplete dominant allele doesn't completely mask the effects of the recessive allele, leading to a mixture in the phenotype. This concept is often observed in cases such as the color of snapdragon flowers, where the cross between a red-flowered plant (CRCR) and a white-flowered plant (CWCW) produces offspring with pink flowers (CRCW), demonstrating the intermediate phenotype.
In such a scenario, rather than showing only red or white flowers (as would be the expectation with complete dominance), the flowers exhibit a pink hue. When the genotypes of the parents include one allele for red and one for white, the result in the heterozygote is an intermediate pink phenotype. Thus, in the incomplete dominance pattern, the phenotype of the heterozygote is somewhere in between that of the two homozygotes.