Shrubs, erect, 1-3 m; burl absent; twigs sparsely to densely soft-hairy. Leaves: petiole 3-8 mm; blade gray, glaucous, dull, narrowly obovate or oblong-elliptic, 1.5-3.5 × 1-1.5 cm, base cuneate, margins entire, plane, surfaces smooth, appressed gray-canescent, gla-brescent. Inflorescences racemelike, simple or 1-2-branched; immature inflorescence pendent, (branches bell-shaped, framed by bracts), axis 0.5-1 cm, 1+ mm diam., sparsely to densely soft-hairy; bracts not appressed, leaflike, lanceolate, 5-12 mm, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces canescent or glabrous. Pedicels 5-7 mm, usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely hairy. Flowers: corolla white, conic to urceolate; ovary glabrous. Fruits globose, 6-12 mm diam., glabrous. Stones distinct. 2n = 26.

Flowering winter-early spring. Chaparral, open conifer forests; of conservation concern; 100-500 m; Calif.

Arctostaphylos silvicola is known from deep, sandy soils near the coast in chaparral and open conifer forests of the central Santa Cruz Mountains, Santa Cruz County.