Great post! Translators translate these tooltips, so they are aware of them.. In Dutch you can also see the tooltip text before they are choosen as annotation.

controlled_term_labels:
#Value displayed when a filter is not filtering by a specific value for this attribute
any_sex: Alle
#Value displayed when a filter is not filtering by a specific value for this attribute

sex: Geslacht
male: Mannelijk
female: Vrouwelijk
plant_phenology: Plantenfenologie
budding: Ontluikend
flower_budding: Bloemknoppen
flowering: Bloeiend
fruiting: Vruchtdragend
life_stage: Levensstadium
adult: Volwassen
teneral: Net verveld
subimago: Subimago
pupa: Pop
no_evidence_of_flowering: Geen bewijs voor bloei
nymph: Nimf
larva: Larve
egg: Ei
juvenile: Juveniel
alive_or_dead: Levend of dood
alive: Levend
dead: Dood
cannot_be_determined: Kan niet worden vastgesteld
evidence_of_presence: Bewijs van voorkomst
#As in the feather on a bird
feather: Veer
#Abnormal growth
gall: Gal
#Refers to an observation that depicts the actual organism and not some
#kind of secondary evidence like a footprint
organism: Organisme
#Fecal matter, not regurgitated matter
scat: Uitwerpselen
#Impression made by the organism on the ground or in snow, like a footprint
track: Spoor
#Endoskeletal remains, like a deer bone
bone: Bot
#Skin or exoskeleton shed by a reptile or arthropod, not a particular
#plumage in a bird or seasonal hair/fur in a mammal
molt: Vervellingshuid
controlled_term_definitions:
alive: Organisme leeft en vertoont geen tekenen stervende te zijn
bone: |
Vooral endoskelet-resten; gedeeltelijke blootstelling van bot in een verder intact organisme moet worden gelabeld als "organisme"
cannot_be_determined: Kan niet worden gedetermineerd met het geleverde bewijs
dead: Organisme is dood of vertoont tekenen stervende te zijn
feather: Een of meer veren die niet zijn bevestigd aan een organisme
flower_budding: Bloemknoppen zijn zichtbaar maar niet open
flowering: Bloemen zichtbaar, open, en nog vast aan de plant
fruiting: Vruchten zichtbaar en nog vast aan de plant
gall: Misvormde uitgroei van plantenweefsel veroorzaakt door een parasitair organisme
molt: Afgeworpen huid of exoskelet
no_evidence_of_flowering: Media levert geen bewijs van reproductieve structuren
organism: Heel of gedeeltelijk organisme
scat: Feces (geen uileballen of andere uitgebraakte dingen)
teneral: Volwassene die onlangs ontpopt is maar nog niet zijn uiteindelijke volwassen vorm heeft
track: Afdruk in grond of sneeuw gemaakt door organisme

controlled_term_definitions:
alive: Organism is living and shows no signs of imminent death
bone: |
Predominantly endoskeletal remains; partial bone exposure in an otherwise
intact organism should be labelled "organism"
cannot_be_determined: Cannot be determined from the evidence provided
dead: Organism is dead or shows signs of imminent death
feather: One or more feathers not attached to an organism
flower_budding: Flower buds are visible but not open
flowering: Flowers visible, open, and still attached to the plant
fruiting: Fruit visible and still attached to the plant
gall: Deformed plant tissue outgrowth caused by a parasitic organism
molt: Discarded skin or exoskeleton
no_evidence_of_flowering: Media provides no evidence of reproductive structures
organism: Whole or partial organism
scat: Fecal matter (not owl pellets or other regurgitated matter)
teneral: Adult that has recently emerged but has not yet achieved its final adult form

track: Impression in ground or snow made by organism

https://github.com/inaturalist/inaturalist/blob/main/config/locales/en.yml
https://github.com/inaturalist/inaturalist/blob/main/config/locales/nl.yml

Thank you for writing up this summary. I had not been aware of these definitions before this week.

Yes, the annotation "fruiting" is an oddball in the following sense. Note how "fruiting" (and the others in that category) are verbs (or maybe adjectives, I don't know) while most of the other annotations are nouns (with a couple of adjectives thrown in). Yet the definition is clearly intended for a "fruit". I'm not surprised since it's fairly easy to define "fruit" in a few words.

The annotation "flowering" is even less understood. That word can be used as either a verb or an adjective. In the latter case, we say "flowering plant" but that phrase is ambiguous. It requires context to be understood. Beginners have difficulty with that phrase. I know I did.

For awhile now, long before I learned of the tooltips, I stopped using the phrases "flower budding", "flowering", and "fruiting" in comments and other writings. I use the nouns instead. So for me, the definitions make complete sense.

Thanks @cgbb2004 your example bolsters my point: The -ing form of a verb is inherently ambiguous. Instead the annotation should use nouns:

Reproductive structures:

Flower bud: One or more flower buds visible but not open
Flower: One of more flowers visible, open, and still attached to the plant
Fruit: One or more fruits visible and still attached to the plant
Other: Other reproductive structures visible such as flower stalk, withered flower, or dried fruit
None: Media provide no evidence of reproductive structures

This is simpler (and therefore better imo) but it's still not perfect. Comments welcome.

Agreed. Definitely an improvement. As well, the question re "Fruit" or "Other" points to further ambiguity.
😏

If simplicity is your primary goal, the following annotation might be preferred:

Plant structures:

Flower bud: One or more flower buds visible, not open, and attached to the plant
Flower: One of more flowers visible, open, and attached to the plant
Fruit: One or more fruits visible, with seeds, and attached to the plant
Leaf: One or more leaves or leaflets visible and attached to the plant

Gut reactions welcome.

I am not keen on adding a "Leaf" annotation. That would apply in such a large percentage of observations that I suspect most people would never use it, so the data would be meaningless.

@trscavo -- I was just wondering if "Fruit" would be an appropriate annotation for a dried up fruit from the previous year (when the plant had produced fruit, say, in August, but the fruit is observed still clinging to the plant the following April or even May). It happens rarely, so I'm not invested in an answer. Thanks for doing all this work!

A worthy project. Well done!

Thanks for asking this! Up until now, I've been annotating that situation as "fruiting", which seemed like the natural thing to do. Just the other day, @hollyyoung and I had a brief discussion about this. She annotates that as "fruiting" as well. @tsn @cgbb2004 what do you currently do in this case?

The current definitions of "flowering" and "fruiting" specify that the flower or fruit be "still attached to the plant". Maybe we should relax that requirement under the new definitions? If so, that would look something like this:

Reproductive structures:

Flower bud: One or more flower buds visible but not open
Flower: One of more flowers visible and open
Fruit: One or more fruits visible and with seeds
Other reproductive structures: Other reproductive structures visible such as flowerless stalk, withered flower, or empty seed pod
No evidence of reproductive structures: No visible reproductive structures of any kind

Up until last week, when you pointed out that the current official definitions require that the fruit be still attached to the plant, I was using the "Fruiting" annotation also in the case where the fruits are visible on the ground underneath the plant. My reasoning was that I frequently find it useful to go to the photo gallery on a taxon page and filter for fruiting phenology, in order to learn what the fruit of a particular species looks like. Excluding photos of fruits on the ground would make it more difficult for me to learn what I want to learn. However, in this case, I would not propose such a significant change to the official definition without first understanding why someone decided in the first place to include only fruits still attached to the plant.

It all does get complicated, does it not! I haven't ever noted fruits lying on the ground, probably because I've just about always seen attached fruits!

Safe travels @hollyyoung :-)