This section is from the book "Field Book Of Western Wild Flowers", by Margaret Armstrong. Also available from Amazon: Field Book Of Western Wild Flowers.
This is a big handsome plant, with a thick, smooth stem, one or two feet tall and woody at base, and with thickish leaves, slightly downy, dark green in color on the upper side and white with close down on the under. The flowers form feathery, cream-white or yellow clusters, often more than six inches across, with red buds, and are beautiful and conspicuous on bare mountainsides, smelling of honey.

Eriogonum compositum. BUCKWHEAT FAMILY. Polygonaceae.
 
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