Twigs sparsely short-hairy, not glandular-hairy. Leaf blades green or gray-green, base cuneate to rounded, surfaces smooth, glabrous or sparsely puberulent. Inflorescences: immature inflorescence axis densely white-hairy; bracts densely white-hairy. Pedicels densely white-hairy. Ovaries densely white-hairy. Fruits slightly flattened depressed-globose. Stones usually distinct.

Flowering winter-early spring. Pure and mixed chaparral; 300-1900 m; Calif.; Mexico (Baja California).

Subspecies cushingiana is widespread in mixed populations with subsp. glandulosa from Humboldt County in the North Coast Range south to the Peninsular Range, and extending into northern Baja California.