The narrowly oblong or needle-like leaves of Diastella proteoides overlap, ascending on whitish hairy young stems. Leaf dimensions are from 5 mm to 15 mm long and from 1 mm to 2 mm wide.

When the hairiness diminishes lower down, the stems may be red. The initially hairy leaves also discard them in time (Manning, 2007; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; http://pza.sanbi.org).