Echinacia Purupurea, from bud to flower.

Echinacea plants don't rush their progress from early bud to full bloom. The process follows a clear pathway.

Buds grow slowly to find their place in the sun. Bracts, leaf-like structures immediately below the flower, open and bend back.

The bracts have protected the bud during this phase, and it's time to make way for the eye-catching flower show.

Buds and flowers are at different stages of development.

A bud with its bracts opening out.

The first ray flowers appear.

Echinacea flowers are composite, made up of multiple simpler flowers. Ray flowers develop around the edges. They have a stigma but don't produce pollen; they are sterile.

Ray flowers are beginning to develop their characteristic pink colour. The pink petals on Echinacea blooms are individual florets.

Meanwhile, disc florets spiral out from the centre. The spikes are receptacular bracts. Each floret has a single bract.

Botanical and biological classifications are challenging. Green bracts surround echinacea flowers. Disc flowers each have a single spikey bract. I’ve done my best, enjoy the pictures.

Disc flowers are seen maturing from the outside towards the centre.

Covered in pollen grains, dark bi-lobed stigmas have emerged.

The first structures to appear beside the bracts are the anthers overflowing with pollen grains. The stigmas in the outermost ring have pushed through.