Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 13, 2023 is: florescence \flor-ESS-unss\ noun

Florescence refers to a state or period of being in bloom or of flourishing.

// She remarked in her lecture on the florescence of [Renaissance](https://www.britannica.com/event/Renaissance) art and technology.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/florescence)

Examples:

"Recently, the bright red fruits of two [Titan Arums](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/titan%20arum) ... have ripened in China National Botanical Garden in China's capital Beijing. Records showed this is the first time that the plants produced fruits under cultivation in a botanical garden across China. Importantly, unlike other plants, Titan Arum flowers occasionally and its florescence is unpredictable, which makes it even more difficult to harvest its fruits." — Chen Na, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20 Oct. 2022

Did you know?

The flowering of botany as a science in the 18th century produced a garden of English words, mostly adapted from Latin. Florescence is a radiant example, picked from the Latin flōrēscentia, meaning "blossoming." Botanists used it as a showy word to refer to the blooming of a flower. Less literal types appreciated the word too, and applied florescence to anything that seemed to be thriving or flourishing, as in "the highest florescence of a civilization." Flōrēscentia bloomed originally from Latin flōr- or flōs, meaning "flower" and "bloom" (among other things), which English has also to thank for [flourish](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flourish), [florid](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/florid), [flora](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flora), and [flower](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flower) itself. The list [unfurls](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unfurl) bounty; from [Florida](https://www.nglish.com/spanish/Florida) to [Florence](https://www.britannica.com/place/Florence), flōr-, flōs descendants thrive in abundance.