Final answer:
Mendel chose pea plants because their traits are easily identifiable, they grow fast and are easy to raise, they are true-breeding, and can be cultivated in large quantities, which aided in establishing statistical significance in his genetic experiments.
Step-by-step explanation:
Gregor Mendel chose pea plants as the subjects in his experiments for several reasons. First, pea plants exhibit easily identifiable traits such as seed form, flower color, pod form, and stem length, with each characteristic presenting two distinct values, e.g., round versus wrinkled seeds. This made observing the inheritance patterns of traits straightforward. Second, pea plants are fast-growing and easy to raise, allowing Mendel to complete multiple generations of experiments within a single growing season. Thirdly, pea plants naturally self-fertilize and produce true-breeding offspring, which ensured the consistency of traits being observed without the interference of external pollination. Lastly, the ability to cultivate them in large quantities meant that statistical relevance in the inheritance patterns could be confidently established without the results being due to chance.