Plants 0.5-2.5 m; bark gray (interior surfaces reddish), exfoliating on older branches. Leaves 4(6) per node; petiole appressed to ascending, tan, 0.5-1 mm; blade yellow-green to green, linear to acicular, 5-15 × 0.7-1 mm, base acute to rounded, apex acute, surfaces minutely glandular to glandular-hairy, with prominent, longitudinal groove abaxially. Inflorescences sessile; bracteoles 2(-4), sessile, ovate, 0.8-1 mm, margins erose. Flowers sessile, tan to reddish brown; sepals persistent, imbricate, ovate to orbiculate, 1-1.5 × 0.7-1 mm, margins fimbrillate; petals persistent, imbricate, 1-1.5 × 0.7-1 mm, margins fimbrillate; stamens reddish brown; filaments 2-3 mm; anthers 1 mm; pistil reddish purple, 1.5-2.5 mm; ovary ovoid, 0.7-1 mm; style 0.7-1 mm, ± equaling stigma; stigma 0.5-1 mm. Drupes red (tan to yellow), 1.5-2 mm diam. Seeds (pyrenes) reddish brown, 1-1.7 mm. 2n = 26.

Flowering Mar-Jun(-Nov). Deep, xeric, sandy soils of oak scrub, sand pine scrub, longleaf pine sand hills, fluvial sand ridges, and maritime dune fields; 0-100 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., Miss., S.C.

Ceratiola ericoides occurs in sites with low fire frequency, yet its seed germination is stimulated by fire once seed production begins at 10-15 years of age (A. F. Johnson 1982b). Leaves are strongly aromatic.