Final answer:
A plant that responds to short nights followed by increasingly longer nights will most likely flower in autumn, as it is a short-day plant that requires shorter daylight periods to trigger flowering.
Step-by-step explanation:
Plant flowering is an example of photoperiodism, which refers to the response of organisms, including plants, to the length of day or night. A plant that responds to short nights followed by increasingly longer nights will most likely flower in autumn. During autumn, the days start to get shorter, which signals to short-day plants that the time to flower has arrived. Each plant has a different photoperiod, or night length, that triggers flowering. Long-day plants, like lettuce and wheat, require longer daylight periods to flower, while short-day plants, such as cotton and rice, flower when day lengths shorten. Photoperiod sensitivity may involve multiple signals, but the length of night is a crucial factor in the flowering process.