A brief, 8-h water stress during the induction of flowering in L. temulentum reduces the flowering response, the more so the greater the stress. Water stress also affected leaf photosynthetic rate, relative water content of leaves and leaf elongation. Water stress was most inhibitory to flowering when applied during the period of high-intensity light at the beginning of the one long day. The abscisic acid (ABA) content of leaves increased up to 30-fold during the imposition of water stress and fell rapidly after stress was relieved, regardless of when the stress was imposed. The greater the stress, the higher was the level of ABA in leaves and the greater was the inhibition of flowering. The ABA content of apices also rose in response to water stress, in some cases during the stress treatment but usually 8-22 h later. Flowering was inhibited when apical ABA contents were high at the end of the long day. Although water stress may influence the flowering of plants in several ways, these experiments suggest that water stress during the long day induction of L. temulentum inhibits flowering by raising the content of ABA at the shoot apex during floral evocation.