The understanding of evolutionary relationships in Arctostaphylos has been hampered by taxonomic difficulties in this large and complex genus. A phylogenetic analysis of sequences from the ITS region for 38 species was used to provide a phylogenetic perspective for interpreting evolutionary patterns and relationships in Arctostaphylos. Phylogenetic relationships were estimated using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. ITS sequence data do not support a previously published subgeneric classification based on morphological characteristics, but do support the two lineages of Arctostaphylos described by a previous molecular phylogeny based on RFLP data. Topology tests indicate morphological characters are not useful in defining monophyletic clades.