Twigs sparsely short-hairy, not glandular-hairy. Leaf blades dark green, margins often reddish, base cuneate to rounded, surfaces smooth, glabrous. Inflorescences: immature inflorescence axis densely white-hairy; bracts densely white-hairy. Pedicels densely white-hairy. Ovaries densely white-hairy. Fruits markedly flattened depressed-globose. Stones usually distinct.

Flowering winter-early spring. Maritime chaparral and closed-cone conifer forests on sandstone coastal bluffs; of conservation concern; 10-100 m; Calif.; Mexico (Baja California).

Subspecies crassifolia is found near San Diego and southward in northern Baja California. It is in the Center for Plant Conservation´s National Collection of Endangered Plants.