It can be distinguished from its closest relatives by the unusually sharp, heavily serrated, white margins on their leaves.

The erectly branched inflorescence is often over a meter in height, with pink-green flowers and appears between November and February.

This species is indigenous to the Eastern Cape, South Africa, where it is widely distributed in the thicket vegetation of the Transkei - both inland and near to the rocky coast.

Its favoured habitat is dense shady thicket, rocky south-facing sheer cliffs and slopes.

It has been recorded at 1500 meters in the southern Drakensberg mountains, at a greater elevation than any other Gasteria species.