Shrubs, erect or mound-forming, 1-3 m; burl absent; twigs finely glandular-hairy. Leaves: petiole 3-6 mm; blade dark green, dull, elliptic to oblanceolate, 1-3 × 0.5-1.5 cm, base cuneate, margins entire, plane, surfaces scabrous, papillate, finely glandular-hairy . Inflorescences panicles, 3-6-branched; immature inflorescence pendent, branches spreading or ascending to erect, axis 1-2 cm, to 1 mm diam., finely glandular-hairy; bracts tightly appressed, scalelike, awl-like, 2-4 mm (equaling buds), apex acuminate, surfaces finely glandular-hairy; (buds scattered along inflorescence axis, round, appearing as 'beads'). Pedicels 3-5 mm, glabrous. Flowers: corolla white, urceolate; ovary glabrous. Fruits subglobose, 5-7 mm diam., glabrous. Stones distinct. 2n = 26.

Flowering winter-early spring. Serpentine chaparral and open forests on sandstone; 100-1100 m; Calif., Oreg.

Arctostaphylos hispidula is known from Josephine County, Oregon, and adjacent California in Del Norte and Humboldt counties; there is an isolated population in northern Sonoma County, California.