Plants acaulescent, suckering and forming small groups. Roots to almost 10 mm thick and fleshy. Leaves 4-9, 6-9 cm long, about 3.5 cm wide, initially suberect, becoming horizontal and apically recurved, narrowly deltoid with an acute, slightly recurved tip, lblue-green, turning purple in intense light, voth surfaces covered with whitish, lenticular, irregularly disposed spots of varying sizes, ower surface convex, upper surface grooved; margins pale, toothed; teeth about 1 mm long, 3-4 mm apart, whitish. Inflorescences to 35 cm tall (including peduncle, 17 cm long (excluding peduncle), simple, bearing up to 40 flowers; peduncle purple-brown with a few ovate, white, dark-veined sterile bracts; floral bracts 6-7 mm long, white; pedicels 5-7 mm long, horizontal. Flowers greenish to yellowish white, often tinged pale pink in the lower half, spreading to hanging; perianth about 15 mm long, 5 mm wide across the ovary, the outer segments free for 4-5 mm, terminating in a slightly recurved, rounded tip, 3-veined, the veins green, converging at the tip; filaments yellowish-white; anthers bright orange, exserted about 4 mm; ovary about 4.5 mm long, 2 mm wide, olive green; stigma exserted by about 4 mm. Fruit and seeds not seen.
Aloe orlandi was found in an arid plain growing in rocky clay soil. Recent efforts to relocate i in the wild have been unsuccessful.