Maybe Arctostaphylos uva-ursi?

It would be an amusing development if true. One of my many quixotic horticultural pursuits has been to get a PNW nursery to attempt to graft a western Manzanita (preferably a showier one than the bearberry) onto Arbutus unedo. So far, no takers. (Contrast with perky little Australia, where many western Australian Proteaceae are readily available, grafted to grow in the southeastern population centers like Sydney and Melbourne!)

Another part of the picture I forgot to mention, is that this is on a hot, dry southern slope. But that's where one might expect an A. uva-ursi seedling to do well around here.

I can totally believe it's possible though. Great guess. The foliage sorta reminds me of the wonderfully weird tropical blueberries, so Ericaceae can definitely do this sort of thing. Funny enough I greatly admired manzanitas when I was on the west coast, but never bothered to 'feel up' their foliage. 🤣 The combination of picturesque, twisted plant forms and red bark is really appealing. And not just in gardens. I saw some gorgeous ones on the lower slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains, as the Zephyr was descending from Donner Pass.

Barberry? Pretty common invasive in some areas of nearby woods.

A Berberis species would have thorns.

It looks like alternate leaf arrangement with the leaves coming out in a spiral pattern around the stem.

I took a quick look just as it was getting too dark outside. Confusingly, some of them look opposite and some of them look alternate! But this is a thing that can happen with this species, apparently. I'll try to get some better pics tomorrow.

The leaf arrangement is alternate with leaves forming a Fibonacci spiral, and the nodes are close together.