Back in the fall on one of my hikes in the Gothe State Forest I came across a fairly large clearing in the woods that was full of coastal plain Palafox (Palafoxia integrifolia) that was in bloom. There were quite a few pollinators there that I photographed, but I also spent some time taking shots of the flowers. I’ve always thought that these were really cool flowers with their curly stamens poking up through each floret. Like most flowers with florets surrounding a center, they’re members of the Asteraceae family. Since this patch of flowers was large enough to have blooms in various stages, I shot a few of each stage and put the best of them together in this little photo essay, showing the stages of the life of a Palafox flower.