at least 12 hours of light to flower? or at most?

[jeffca]

i have a plant by my window getting probably 14 hours of sun. now i always hear 12/12 will make it flower, (it's about 8 inches tall, little bushy), what's the idea behind the 12/12, is it that the plant can flower with no more than 12 hours of light or no more than 12 hours of dark. like if i put it 11 hours on/ 13 hours off (by taking it away from the window) would it flower, or if the hours were vice versa?

 

[HippyInEngland]

Plants do not need 12/12 to go into flower, what happens is the plant senses the days are getting shorter with less and less light each day, this triggers the plants hormones and it will start preparing itself to flower, when the light gets down to a trigger level (plants vary and some can flower earlier than others) which can be 15 hours of light a day, the plant then starts to show its sex and flowering begins.