Plants are moderately branched, semi-evergreen, succulent shrublets, up to 600 mm in height. The branches are ascending to decumbent, rarely pendent, 8–14 mm in diameter and 50–300 mm long, glaucous green at first, becoming green and eventually pale brown and purplish, and with pale grey horizontal leaf scars. The older stems becoming drooping. Leaves are alternately arranged, sometimes somewhat crowded at the base, narrow and tapering, 60–125 × 8–37 mm, ascending, succulent, glaucous pale green, the margins and nerves becoming purplish under stress. Leaf margin entire, rolled backwards, the midrib raised on the lower surface, the veining indistinct. Inflorescence up 300–500 mm long; the peduncle, up to 270 mm long, with 1–5 distinctly nodding flowerheads (flowering capitula), becoming ascending in fruit. The compound flowerheads (capitula) are discoid, 18–25 × 10–15 mm on stems, 30–120 mm long, bearing leafy bracts becoming smaller upwards. Capitula terminal, sweetly scented, nodding during flowering and then becoming erect in fruit when the pappus matures and the seeds are released. Seed 7 × 1.2 mm long, oblong, greyish brown. Flowering time is in summer, from November to April.

Kleinia chimanimaniensis resembles K. galpinii from Mpumalanga, and accordingly in the past have been wrongly identified. In both species the leaves and stems are glaucous, covered in a powdery bloom. However, K. chimanimaniensis grows taller (up to 600 mm) with longer stems and without a tuber, nor the distinctive basal rosettes of K. galpinii. It also differs by its inflorescence which is less branched with nodding, 1–5 capitula,  in contrast to K. galpinii that are only nodding in bud. K. chimanimaniensis flowers are distinctly yellow, whereas orange in K. galpinii, with smaller corolla lobes up to 1.5 mm long, and cordate bracts on the peduncle.