Shrubs, prostrate or mound-forming, 0.2-1.5 m; burl absent; twigs sparsely short-hairy. Leaves bifacial in stomatal distribution; petiole 2-3 mm; blade dark green, lustrous, orbiculate to orbiculate-ovate, 1-2.5 × 1-1.5 cm, base truncate to ± lobed, margins entire, plane, surfaces smooth, sparsely puberulent. Inflorescences panicles, 2-5-branched; immature inflorescence pendent, (branches crowded), axis 0.5-1 cm, 1+ mm diam., sparsely short-hairy; bracts not appressed, scalelike, deltate to awl-like, 3-5 mm, apex acute, surfaces sparsely hairy or glabrous. Pedicels 3-4 mm, sparsely hairy or glabrous. Flowers: corolla white, urceolate; ovary sparsely hairy or glabrous. Fruits subglobose, 6-8 mm diam., glabrous. Stones distinct. 2n = 26.

Flowering winter-early spring. Steep, rocky slopes and bluffs near ocean; of conservation concern; 0-500 m; Calif.

Arctostaphylos edmundsii is narrowly distributed along the Pacific Coast in the Little Sur region in the northern Santa Lucia Range, Monterey County.