Shrubs, erect or mound-forming, 1-2 m; burl absent; bark on older stems red, smooth; twigs densely short-haired with longer gland-tipped hairs. Leaves bifacial in stomatal distribution; petiole 1-3 mm; blade light green abaxially, dark green adaxially, shiny, orbiculate to orbiculate-ovate, 1-2.2 × 0.8-1.8 cm, base truncate to ± lobed, margins entire, cupped, surfaces smooth, glabrous, midvein hairy. Inflorescences panicles, 4-8-branched; immature inflorescence pendent, branches spreading, axis 0.5-1 cm, to 1 mm diam., densely short-hairy with longer gland-tipped hairs; bracts appressed, scalelike, deltate, 0.5-2 mm, apex acute, surfaces glabrous. Pedicels 3-5 mm, glabrous. Flowers 4-merous; corolla white to pink, urceolate; ovary white-hairy. Fruits subcylindric, 3-4 mm diam., glabrous. Stones distinct (breaking apart in mature fruit). 2n = 26.

Flowering winter-early spring. Sandstone uplands in maritime chaparral or closed-cone conifer forests near coast; of conservation concern; 100-600 m; Calif.

Arctostaphylos sensitiva occurs in Marin, San Mateo, and Santa Cruz counties.