Plants killed by fire; burl absent; twigs glabrous or sparsely short-hairy. Leaf blades dull to shiny green, not glaucous. Inflorescences: axis (many-branched), 1 mm diam.; (branches usually 15-25 mm in immature phase). Ovaries glabrous. Fruits glabrous. Stones distinct. 2n = 52.

Flowering winter-early spring. Foothill woodlands, interior chaparral, sometimes in open conifer forests; 0-1200 m; Calif.

Subspecies manzanita is widely distributed from the Diablo Range in the interior central coast northward around the southern Cascades and southward along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. It occurs in open stands or as solitary, arborescent individuals. In the North Coast Ranges, apparent hybrids with Arctostaphylos stanfordiana are commonly encountered; they are shiny-green-leaved plants bearing immature inflorescences with very slender, many-branched panicles.