Wikstroemia uva-ursi var. uva-ursi is a shrub that grows up to 1.5 meters tall and is characterized by its dense branching and sprawling habit. The young branches are densely covered with gray to reddish-brown or yellow-appressed pubescence, and the branches are slender. Leaves are simple and opposite, with elliptic, ovate to orbicular, or obovate blades that can be up to 5 cm long and 3.8 cm wide. The leaf apex ranges from rounded to acute, while the base is cuneate to rounded, sometimes acute, and rarely subcordate. The upper leaf surfaces are dark to grayish-green, and the lower surfaces are lighter and sometimes glaucous. The blades are thick and firm, with glabrous veins, have scattered hairs, or are pilose. Petioles are glabrous, have scattered hairs, and are 1–2.5(–4) mm long. Stipules are absent. The flowers occur on peduncles 1–6 mm long, which are hirsute, with a clavate, conical to cylindrical rachis that is sometimes forked and 2–20(–50) mm long, also hirsute. The flowers are unisexual, but on Maui, they are sometimes bisexual (perfect). They are yellow and can be glabrous, with scattered hairs, or puberulent, with pedicels 0.8–3 mm long that are glabrous, with a few hairs, or pilose. The calyx tube of staminate flowers is 5.5–9(–11.5) mm long, with outer lobes 1.5–4.5 mm long and 1–3.8 mm wide, and inner lobes 1.2–4 mm long and 1.2–3.5 mm wide. The calyx tube of pistillate flowers is 3.5–8 mm long, with outer lobes 1.5–3.8 mm long and 1–3 mm wide, and inner lobes 1.2–3.2 mm long and 1.2–3 mm wide. The calyx tube of perfect flowers is 5–9 mm long, with outer lobes 1.6–4.5 mm long and 1.5–3.7 mm wide, and inner lobes 1.3–4 mm long and 1.3–3.5 mm wide. There are no petals (corolla). The flowers have 8 stamens, with the lower whorl included and the upper whorl sometimes shortly exserted. The ovary is superior, 1-celled, with solitary and pendulous ovules. The fruit is bright red to dark crimson, ellipsoid, 8–11 mm long, and 5–10 mm in diameter. It is drupaceous, and the seeds lack endosperm. It is scattered on dry ridges, open hillsides, ledges, windswept headlands, clay flats, ‘a‘ā lava, coastal areas, and in low, dry, open, alien vegetation between 3-420(–670) meters.