Die Ursache des theilweisen Verschwindens der grünen Färbung steht mit dem Hybriden-Character der Pflanzen in keinem Zusammenhange, indem dasselbe an der Stammpflanze ebenfalls vorkommt; auch beschränkt sich diese Eigenthümlichkeit nur auf das Individuum und vererbt sich nicht auf die Nachkommen.
The cause for the partial disappearance of the green colouration has no connection with the hybrid character of the plant as it also occurs in the parental plant; this peculiarity is also limited to the individual plant only and is not inherited to the descendants.
colouration = Färbung See p. 7, s. 6.
hybrid character = Hybriden-Charakter As in other instances, the printer changed the adjective plus noun into a compositum; see p. 10, s. 12. Bateson retains this (“hybrid-character”) whereas our translation follows the manuscript, and, incidentally, Sherwood. Character is here used in a more holistic meaning than in other instances where Mendel treats it as synonymous with “traits”; see p. 7, s. 8. In botany, the Latin word character was used as a technical term for the overall sum of distinctive traits of a taxon.
is inherited = vererbt sich The manuscript originally had beschränkt, which Mendel deleted, and then continued with vererbt. This is the only instance in the paper where Mendel used a verb derived from the root erben (“inherit”). “Vererben” has a complex etymology. The prefix ver- often precedes verbs that indicate a movement or process that departs or deviates from some state regarded as original, normal, or desirable. In law, “vererben” was a technical term that designated inheritance following legal prescriptions alone, for example, in cases where the deceased left no will; see Staffan Müller-Wille and Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, A Cultural History of Heredity (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012), p. 41. It is interesting to see that Mendel employed this verb in order to address a case in which a trait was not inherited.
parental plant = Stamm-Pflanze On the prefix Stamm-, see p. 5, s. 10.