Shrubs, 1–3 m. Leaf blades: abaxial surface velvety puberulent, especially on veins. Capsules: valves smooth. 2n = 24.

Flowering May–Aug. Open sites, rocky slopes, montane chaparral, conifer forests; 400–3400 m; Alta., B.C.; Calif., Colo., Idaho, Mont., Nev., Oreg., S.Dak., Wash., Wyo.

Putative hybrids between var. velutinus and Ceanothus cordulatus, reported from the Klamath Mountains, the southern Cascade Range, and the Sierra Nevada, have been called C. ×lorenzenii (Jepson) McMinn. Putative hybrids between C. velutinus var. velutinus and C. prostratus (subg. Cerastes) and named C. ×rugosus Greene have been reported from northeastern California (H. McMinn 1944). Ceanothus ×rugosus, with spreading stems, opposite leaves, and wartlike, semipersistent stipules, is notable in being one of few intersubgeneric hybrids in Ceanothus.