Low, mat-forming, or upright, often densely branched shrubs (or small trees?) to 4(-6?) m tall;  bark peeling and flaking, sometimes furrowed, gray to orange-gray;  young twigs sometimes red, tomentulose to glandular hirsute, rarely nearly glabrate.  Leaves coriaceous to slightly so, elliptic to ovate or obovate, plane, 2-7.4 x 0.8-3.7 mm, basally cuneate, apically obtuse to acute, marginally serrate to serrulate, rarely subentire, upper surface glabrate or with scattered glandular or eglandular trichomes, lower surface densely to sparsely ferruginously tomentulose or with dense white to ferruginous tomentum, rarely glabrate, midrib with eglandular or glandular trichomes;  petioles 2-8 mm long, tomentulose to glandular-hirsute, rarely nearly glabrate.  Inflorescences racemose or paniculate, 3.3-9.2 cm long;  rachis, pedicels, bracts, and bracteoles tomentulose to glandular hirsute;  floral bracts lanceolate to narrowly ovate, plane to slightly navicular or carinate, 0.3-1.1(-2) x 0.4-2.5(-6) mm, often ciliate;  pedicels 3-10(-14) mm long;  bracteoles basal to supramedial, lanceolate, 2-5 mm long, ciliate or not.  Flowers:  calyx lobes triangular to broadly so, 1.7-2.5 x 1.3-1.8 mm, acute to acuminate, tomentulose, to glandular pubescent, or nearly glabrous, often ciliate;  corollas 5.8-7.4 x 4.1-5.8 mm, glabrous to pubescent, greenish-white to white or pink, the lobes 0.9-1.3 x 1.3-2 mm;  stamens 2.3-3.2 mm long;  filaments 2-3 mm long, villous;  anthers 1.2-1.5 x 0.7-1 mm, the spurs 0.6-1 mm long;  ovary glabrous to pubescent;  style 2.8-4.1 mm long, glabrous.  Fruit red when immature, dark purple to black at maturity, 5-7 mm in diam.;  seeds 2.3-2.7 x 1.1-1.4 mm, surface reticulate.

    Distribution.  Endemic to Mexico, to the mountains of Oaxaca and extreme S Puebla, in moist Quercus-Pinus forests, at elevations of (1800-)2100-3200 m.  Flowering and fruiting throughout the year.
 

 Key to Subspecies of Comarostaphylis spinulosa

1.  Petioles and inflorescences with only eglandular pubescence; lower
     leaf surfaces with variable  indumentum ........................ subsp. spinulosa
1. Petioles and inflorescences glandular hirtellous to glandular hirsute;
    lower leaf surfaces densely tomentose ......................  subsp. glandulifera
 

Comarostaphylis spinulosa (Martens & Galeotti) Diggs subsp. spinulosa. Arctostaphylos spinulosa Martens & Galeotti, Bull. Acad. Roy. Soc. Bruxelles 9: 537.  1842.  Type.  Mexico.  Oaxaca:  Misteca Alta, 2134 m, 1840, Galeotti 1802 (lectotype, BR, photo, Diggs neg. 36).  Other sheets of Galeotti 1802 are at BR, G, L, LE, and P.  Galeotti 1802 includes specimens from a number of sites in Oaxaca;  the sheets with no or differing localities are not considered type material because the type description mentions only the Misteca Alta locality.

Arctostaphylos conzattii Fernald, Prod. Amer. Acad. Arts 36: 497.  1901.  Comarostaphylis conzattii (Fernald) Small, N. Amer. Fl. 29: 91.  1914.  Type.  Mexico.  Oaxaca:  Sierra de San Felipe, 3000 m, 7-8 Apr 1898 (bud, fl), Conzatti 691 (holotype, GH, photos, A, F, s.n. & Diggs neg. 37).

Arctostaphylos glabrata Fernald, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 36: 497.  1901.  Comarostaphylis glabrata (Fernald) Small, N. Amer. Fl. 29: 90.  1914.  Type.  Mexico.  Oaxaca:  Sierra de San Felipe, 3500 m, 15 Aug 1897 (bud, gl), Conzatti & González 409 (lectotype, GH, photos, A, F, s.n. & Diggs Neg. 38).

    Low, mat-forming to upright shrubs (to small trees/) to 4(-6?) m tall; young twigs and petioles tomentulose by eglandular pubescence.  Leaves ferruginously tomentulose below or sometimes tomentose below on the young leaves, rarely nearly glabrate.  Inflorescences:  rachis, pedicels, bracts, bracteoles and calyx tomentulose by eglandular trichomes.

    Distribution.  Endemic to Mexico, to the mountains of central and south-central Oaxaca, in the understory of mesic forests of Quercus, Pinus, and Arbutus, at elevations of (1800-)2100-3200 m.  Flowering scattered throughout the year, especially May-Jul;  fruiting scattered throughout the year.
 

Comarostaphylis spinulosa (Martens & Galeotti) Diggs subsp. glandulifera Diggs.   Brittonia 83: 348.  1986.  Illustrated:  Diggs (1995), fig. 18.  Type.  Mexico.  Oaxaca-Puebla border:  W slopes of Sierra Zongolica, 1.5 km below summit, along road between Teotitlán del Camino and Huatla de Jiménez, ca. 8 km (by road) above Teotitlán (18°12'N, 97°01'W), 2000 m, 8 Jul 1972 (fl, fr), Breckon & Breckon 1315 (holotype, MEXU, photo, Diggs neg. 39: isotypes, DAV, ENCB, F, GH, K, NY, TEX, US, WIS, XAL).

    Low, often densely branched shrubs to 2 m tall;  bark furrowed and peeling, gray to orange-gray;  young twigs sometimes red, glandular hirtellose to hirsute with stalked, swollen-headed glandular trichomes to 2 mm long, with short, uniseriate, hyaline hairs also present.  Leaves coriaceous, elliptic to obovate or ovate, 2-7.4 x 0.8-3.7 cm, marginally serrate to serrulate, upper surface glabrate or with scattered glandular or eglandular trichomes, lower surface with dense white to ferriginous tomentum imparting a distinct color to the surface, also with multiseriate-stalked, swollen-headed glandular trichomes, especially along the midrib.  Inflorescences terminal, racemose or paniculate, usually with few branches, 3.3-9.2 cm long;  rachis, pedicels, and bracteoles densely glandular hirtellous to hirsute with stalked, swollen-headed glandular trichomes to 1.5 mm long, shorter hyaline hairs also present;  floral bracts lanceolate to narrowly ovate, flattened to slightly navicular, 3-11(-20) x 0.4-2.5(-6) mm, tomentulose by eglandular trichomes, also with glandular trichomes, glandular-ciliate;  pedicels 0.4-1(-1.4) cm long, bracteoles basal to medial, lanceolate, 2.5-5 mm long, glandular-ciliate.  Flower buds sometimes red;  calyx lobes triangular to broadly so, 1.5-2.1 x 1.3-1.4 mm acute, glabrous to densely pubescent with glandular or eglandular hairs, the trichomes often more dense at base of lobes, ciliate or not.

    Distribution.   Endemic to Mexico and known only from N Oaxaca and extreme southern Puebla, with the exception of one collection (MacDougall s.n., NY) from south-central Oaxaca, in moist Quercus-Pinus-Arbutus forests, at elevations from 2000-2500 m.  Flowering occurs from Jun-Feb;  fruiting Jun-Feb.