Schiedea kealiae is a subdioecious, weakly erect to sprawling, softly woody shrub. The stems are often swollen at the nodes, terete (cylindrical), 4-angled or ridged, measuring 20–100 cm long, and are few- to many-stemmed from the base, forming loose clumps. The primary stems are few-branched, weakly ascending to sprawling, with internodes 0.3–4.5 cm long. The stems are pale green, glabrous below, minutely glandular-puberulent on the upper stems, and inflorescent, sometimes becoming glabrate. The leaves are simple and opposite, often fasciculate on short axillary stems. The blades are lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate, conspicuously falcate and usually slightly twisted, weakly v-shaped in cross-section toward the apex and especially toward the base, measuring 3–11 cm long and 0.7–1.2 (up to 2.4) cm wide. The leaf apex is attenuated and often slightly curved, with bases often connate around the stem and the base tapered. The surfaces of young leaves and upper leaves are sparsely minutely glandular-puberulent, especially on the lower surface, with sessile, 0.05–0.1 mm long, erect, white-opaque hairs. The blades are thin and membranous, with weakly revolute margins that become more recurved with age. There are three principal veins, pale and somewhat translucent, with the midvein slightly excentric. The petioles are 0–0.5 cm long, and stipules are absent. The flowers are in a terminal inflorescence with 55–534 flowers, 3–11 cm long, laterally contracted and congested, with short lateral branches and ascending branches and pedicels. The inflorescence is puberulent with hairs like those of the leaves. The bracts are green, linear-subulate, and recurved, with those on the central axis measuring 2–20 mm long and those on the branches and flowers measuring 0.5–2 mm long. The flowers are subdioecious, with hermaphroditic flowers occasionally intermixed in staminate inflorescences, varying in number with site and moisture. The calyx of staminate flowers has subequal sepals, 2.5–3.4 mm long, narrowly ovate, yellowish green, opaque, reflexed, and convex at the base, producing a small transverse bulge, with the middle part concave, curved upward, and broadly navicular to nearly flat in the distal third, sometimes irregularly inrolled toward the apex. The calyx of pistillate flowers has subequal sepals, 2.1–2.5 mm long, narrowly ovate, yellowish green, opaque, convex at the base, producing a small transverse bulge, with the middle part concave and nearly flat in the distal half, inrolled at the apex. The corolla (petals) is absent. The staminate flowers have 10 stamens with dimorphic filaments, the antisepalous whorl measuring 3.5–3.8 mm long and the alternate whorl measuring 3.0 mm long. The anthers are about 0.6 mm long and pale yellow. The pistillate flowers have 10 vestigial stamens with subequal filaments, the antisepalous whorl measuring 0.4–0.55 mm long and the alternate whorl measuring 0.3–0.4 mm long. The anthers are about 0.15 mm long, yellowish-white, and do not produce pollen. The ovary is superior in pistillate flowers, 1-celled, with free-central ovule placentation and 2–4 styles. The staminate flowers have 2–3 greenish-yellow, weakly elongating and non-functional styles. The fruit is a capsule measuring 2–2.5 mm long and narrowly ovoid. The seeds are relatively few, about 0.5 mm long, orbicular-reniform, compressed. The perisperm is starchy and hard, with true endosperm absent. It is found in remnant Sapindus oahuensis dry forests mixed with Leucaena, on steep slopes and exposed ledges between 60-305 meters.