BEAUTY IN AGE - SUNFLOWERS

I saw these sunflowers, hanging their heads and past their prime, in an art class.  I think they had been brought in when they were fresh and full of life and then just left.  But as they withered and began to fade, their beauty still shone through.  The colour of their petals had deepened and the corolla of .lll stood out. 
Sunflowers - beauty in age
More photographs of the stages of a sunflower (Rise and demise of a sunflower)


Sunflowers - beauty in age
Sunflower involucre (whorl of individual bracts) - beauty in age

Sunflower peduncle (stalk bearing a flower) - beauty in age