Inheritance patterns in flowering plants

Many flowering plants exhibit mendelian inheritance. The peony is a perennial flowering plant of the genus Paeonia, which are native to Western North America, Southern Europe, and Asia. The flowers range in colors from white to red, and can also include yellow. While there are $25$‍-$40$‍ different species of peonies, it can be difficult to trace an individual peony to a specific species simply based on the flower phenotype. Therefore, in order to understand the genetic and physical characteristics of the peony flower, two plants, one with red petals and one with white petals, were crossed. The resulting peonies in the first filial (F1) generation were then repeatedly crossed with each other until a group of $500$‍ offspring in the second filial (F2) generation were grown. The phenotypic distribution of petal color for the F2 generation is summarized in Table 1.

Table 1. Distribution of F2 generation peony petal color phenotype.

The camellia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae, which are found in eastern and southern Asia. There have been $100$‍ - $250$‍ described camellia species, which have a similar color scheme to the peony. To better understand the genetics of this plant, the study described above was replicated using camellias in place of peonies. The F2 generation phenotypes of the camellia flower crosses are summarized in Table 2.

Table 2. Distribution of F2 generation camellia petal color phenotype.