About Lesson
Florigen
- Because hormones control so many metabolic activities in plants, flowering has long seemed likely to be under the control of one or more hormones. Early experiments sought to determine which part of a plant is sensitive to the light that initiates flowering.
- The results suggested the presence of a substance that moved from the leaves to the flower buds. Although the substance was not identified then—nor has it been isolated now—it was named florigen.
- Florigen is the hypothetical flowering hormone; it may or may not exist.
Note that flowering most likely is not controlled by a single hormone, but is the result of a combination of internal and external signals and responses.
