a. [f. L. flōrifer (f. flōr(i)-, flōs + -fer bearing) + -OUS.] Producing flowers. Hence Floriferousness.
1656–81. Blount, Glossogr., Floriferous.
1678. T. Jordan, Triumphs Lond., 11. Under the declivity of a Verdant Hill, which the Floriferous hand of Nature had Crown’d with a diverse colour’d Diadem of Flowers, inclining to that fertil point of the Compass, which is the Empire of Auster.
1727. Bailey, vol. II., Floriferousness.
1796. C. Marshall, Garden., xix. (1813), 345. The dwarf sort [of Nasturtium] is preferred by some for flower borders, but is not so floriferous as the large.
1881. Pract. Gardener, 35. China Roses … none are more floriferous than these.
1882. The Garden, XXI. 25 Feb., 134/3. Another notable thing about this variety is its extreme floriferousness compared with that of any of the others.
fig. 1879. G. Meredith, Egoist, I. Prelude, 5. This laughter of reason refreshed is floriferous, like the magical great gale of the shifty Spring deciding for Summer.
