Townsendia incana (Easter Daisy)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Semi-desert, foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring.

Thomas Nuttall collected the first specimen of Townsendia incana "On the Black Hills" on his trip with the Wyeth Expedition of 1834-1837. (Nuttall's words as quoted in Intermountain Flora.) The first member of the Townsendia genus was collected a decade earlier in Saskatchewan by John Richardson (for whom Geranium richardsonii was named). 

The genus Townsendia was named by William Jackson Hooker in 1833 for David Townsend, a West Chester, Pennsylvania resident who was active in civic affairs and botany.

"Incana’ is Latin for "hoary", and refers to the "conspicuously white-hairy stems, much whiter than the leaves...." (Intermountain Flora)