Editorial: Recent Advances in Flowering Time Control

The phenological development of plants can be broadly divided into 4 stages, embryo/juvenile, adult (all vegetative stages), reproductive (the generative stage), and senescent. This research topic focusses on the transition from vegetative growth to reproductive development, commonly referred to as floral transition. Plants have coordinated the seasonal timing of flowering and reproduction with the prevailing environmental conditions. In agriculture, flowering is a prerequisite for crop production whenever seeds or fruits are harvested. In contrast, avoidance of flowering is necessary for harvesting vegetative parts of a plant such as tubers or roots. Late flowering also severely hampers breeding success due to long generation times. Thus, flowering time regulation is of utmost importance for genetic improvement of crop