Hermannia alnifolia is a scrambling, grey-green shrublet occasionally growing to 1 m. The upper branches are reddish and hairy.
The leaves are wedge-shaped to oval and undulating, covered in white hairs on their lower surfaces. Leaf margins are toothed in their upper parts. The plant is sometimes called the fanleaf dollsrose.
The species distribution is in the Northern Cape from southern Namaqualand to the Western Cape, from the Cape Peninsula eastwards to the southern Cape as far as Uniondale.
The habitat is rocky and shale slopes, often in semi-arid conditions and mainly receiving winter rain. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2007; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).