This is a petite, low-lying manzanita which forms mounds and patchy mats in sandy soil. The leathery leaves are small and rounded to oval, dark green and shiny when mature and red-edged when new. The inflorescences are dense with flowers, which are small, urn-shaped to rounded, and waxy white to very pale pink. The fruit is a shiny, reddish-brown drupe between one half and one centimeter wide.[4] It is a perennial shrub.[3]