Imagine that you self- pollinate heterozygous purple- flowered, long- pollened pea plants and get mostly purple- flowered, long- pollened plants and white- flowered, short- pollened plants, with a few purple- flowered, short- pollened or white- flowered, long- pollened plants. What is the most likely explanation?

A) Long pollen is often lethal, so few plants with long pollen survive to adulthood.
B) This is a normal random variation from the expected ratio for independent assortment.
C) The gene for flower color is on a sex chromosome.
D) The genes for flower color and pollen length are linked.
E) The purple allele influences pollen to become shorter.