Shrubs, erect, 1-5 m; burl absent; twigs short-hairy with long, white hairs. Leaves: petiole 1-4 mm; blade glaucous, dull to ± shiny, oblong-ovate, 2-5 × 1-2.5 cm, base auriculate-clasping, margins entire, plane, surfaces smooth, puberulent, glabrescent. Inflorescences panicles, 1-4-branched; immature inflorescence pendent, (branches dense, framed by bracts), axis 1-1.5 cm, 1+ mm diam., short-hairy with long, white hairs; bracts not appressed, leaflike, linear-lanceolate, 8-15 mm, apex acuminate, surfaces glabrous. Pedicels 5-10 mm, glabrous. Flowers: corolla white, conic to urceolate; ovary hairy. Fruits depressed-globose, 8-12 mm diam., glabrous. Stones partially to entirely connate. 2n = 26.

Flowering winter-early spring. Maritime chaparral on siliceous shale soils; of conservation concern; 0-300 m; Calif.

Arctostaphylos pechoensis is known from the vicinity of the Pecho Hills, San Luis Obispo County.