Shrubs, erect, 1-4.5 m; burl absent; twigs densely white-hairy with long, white hairs. Leaves: petiole to 2 mm; blade whitish gray, dull, oblong-ovate to orbiculate-ovate, 1.5-4.5 × 1.5-3 cm, base distinctly lobed, auriculate-clasping, margins entire, plane, surfaces smooth, gray-canescent, glabrescent. Inflorescences panicles, 3-5-branched; immature inflorescence pendent, (branches crowded, ± obscured by bracts), axis 1-1.5 cm, 1+ mm diam., densely white-hairy with long, white hairs; bracts somewhat appressed, leaflike, ovate to lanceolate-ovate, 5-15 mm, apex acute, surfaces canescent. Pedicels 4-10 mm, tomentose. Flowers: corolla white to pink, conic; ovary densely white-hairy. Fruits depressed-globose, 5-10 mm diam., short white-hairy, glabrescent. Stones distinct. 2n = 26.

Flowering winter-early spring. Chaparral, open, closed-cone conifer forests; of conservation concern; 300-500 m; Calif.

Arctostaphylos auriculata is found on the western slopes of Mount Diablo in Contra Costa County.