Shrubs, erect or mound-forming, 1-4 m; burl absent; bark on older stems persistent, gray, shredded; twigs short-hairy with long, white hairs. Leaves bifacial in stomatal distribution; petiole 2-5 mm; blade dull gray abaxially, dark green, ± shiny adaxially, oblong-ovate to oblong-elliptic, 1.5-3 × 1-2 cm, base subcordate to ± truncate (sometimes with vestigial auricles), margins entire, cupped, abaxial surface smooth, densely tomentose, adaxial surface smooth, glabrous. Inflorescences panicles, 2-5-branched; immature inflorescence pendent, (branches congested, bell-shaped, partly framed by bracts), axis 0.5-0.8 cm, 1+ mm diam., short-hairy with long, white hairs; bracts not appressed, leaflike, linear-lanceolate, 5-8 mm, apex acuminate, surfaces puberulent. Pedicels 4-6 mm, hairy or glabrous. Flowers: corolla white, urceolate; ovary densely white-hairy. Fruits depressed-globose, 7-10 mm diam., sparsely hairy. Stones distinct. 2n = 26.

Flowering winter-early spring. Maritime chaparral on sandy soils near coast; of conservation concern; 0-100 m; Calif.

Arctostaphylos morroensis is known from the Morro Bay region in San Luis Obispo County.