Twigs short-hairy and with longer, white hairs, not glandular-hairy. Leaf blades bright green, shiny, base cuneate to rounded, surfaces smooth, glabrous. Inflorescences: immature inflorescence axis densely white-hairy; bracts densely white-hairy. Pedicels densely white-hairy. Ovaries densely white-hairy. Fruits slightly depressed-globose. Stones distinct.

Flowering winter-early spring; interior chaparral; 600-2000 m; Calif.

Subspecies mollis is widespread throughout the Transverse Range. Plants in the western portion of the range have adaxial leaf surfaces somewhat lustrous and with substantially fewer stomata than the abaxial surface.

Although similar to Arctostaphylos ×campbelliae, J. E. Keeley et al. (2007) determined that subsp. mollis is more in the range of stomatal distribution in A. glandulosa than A. crustacea subsp. crustacea. The relationship between these two taxa merits further investigation.