BEEEEEUTIFUL

It's Flower Friday....today's offering is a Common Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) growing in wild profusion all over these parts.  It's a beautiful addition to the country roadsides and fields.  The local bees love it.
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It's a composite flower head made up of disc flowers (in the center) and ray flowers, the yellow ones around the outside.  Each one is a separate flower unto itself combined into a single composite head and belonging to the Family Asteraceae......yes the sunflower is closely related to the asters. 
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The disc flowers are perfect...meaning they contain both male (stamens) and female (pistils) parts and can produce seed.  The ray flowers are imperfect...they contain neither stamens nor pistils and are, therefore, sterile.
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BEST IN LARGE.