It is a shrub with leathery, linear or slightly sickle-shaped leaves, pale yellow or cream-colored flowers with 4-lobed petals, 2 stamens and a glabrous ovary.

The flowers are pale-yellow or cream-coloured and arranged in clusters of 5 to 9, 5–10 mm (0.20–0.39 in) long in leaf axils.

[2][4] Notelaea lloydii was first formally described in 1987 in the journal Austrobaileya by Gordon P. Guymer, based on plant material he collected 13.8 km (8.6 mi) west of Kenmore in 1985.

[4][5] The specific eipthet (lloydii) honours "Mr Lloyd Bird of Bundamba".

[4] Lloyd's olive is known from two populations near Beaudesert and near Laidley, and usually grows in open eucalypt forest, often near the edges of vine thickets.