Mendel's Second Law. Computer artwork of Mendel's Second Law, the genetic law of independent assort- ment. It was formulated by the Austrian botanist Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-1884), top left, after breeding garden peas (Pisum sp.). Round yellow seeded and wrinkled green seeded parents produce a first generation (F1) with round yellow seeds. Self-pollinating these produces a 9:3:3:1 ratio of round yellow, wrinkled yellow, round green and wrinkled green seeds (F2). Each parent has a pair of alleles for seed colour and another pair for shape, and in reproduction each randomly provides an allele from each pair. Alleles for yellow seeds and smooth seeds are dominant over the other two.