flowering

(Bot.) Having conspicuous flowers; -- used as an epithet with many names of plants; as, flowering ash; flowering dogwood; flowering almond, etc.

Flowering fern, a genus of showy ferns (Osmunda), with conspicuous bivalvular sporangia. They usually grow in wet places. -- Flowering plants, plants which have stamens and pistils, and produce true seeds; phenogamous plants; -- distinguished from flowerless plants. -- Flowering rush, a European rushlike plant (Butomus umbellatus), with an umbel of rosy blossoms.

Flow·er·ing
n.

1. The act of blossoming, or the season when plants blossom; florification.

2. The act of adorning with flowers.

Viticultural term for the stage when small flowers appear, a critical time in the development of grapes. Flowering (floraison in French) occurs about 21⁄2 months after bud break (when the first tiny leaf buds burst from the vine). After flowering is completed, the tiny green berries (that will eventually become mature grapes) begin to form. Warm, dry, sunny weather is critical during flowering because failure to flower properly can result in coulure, meaning that some or all of the grapes may not develop adequately. See also viticulture.