Shrubs, erect, 1-3 m; burl present or absent; twigs glabrous or slightly hairy and sparsely glandular. Leaves: petiole 6-15 mm; blade intensely gray- or white-glaucous, dull, orbiculate, orbiculate-ovate, oblong-ovate, or lanceolate-ovate, 3-7 × 2-7 cm, base rounded, margins entire, plane, apex acute or obtuse, surfaces smooth, glabrous . Inflorescences panicles, 2-7-branched; immature inflorescence pendent, axis 2-3 cm, 1+ mm diam., glabrous or slightly hairy, sometimes glandular; bracts tightly appressed, scalelike, deltate to linear-lanceolate, 3-6 mm, apex acute or acuminate, surfaces glabrous. Pedicels 4-8 mm, glabrous. Flowers: corolla white, conic to urceolate; ovary glabrous. Fruits (dark mahogany-brown), globose, 12-16 mm diam., glabrous. Stones distinct, sometimes connate.

Arctostaphylos mewukka is found on the western slopes of the central and northern Sierra Nevada.