Aloe striata grows from around the Hex River Pass eastwards through the Karoo and Little Karoo scrub until the Eastern Cape around Port Elizabeth and Graaff-Reinet, also northwards into Namibia and eastwards to the Kei River.

The Western and Eastern Cape plants are usually A. striata subsp. striata as the flowering plants in the picture are believed to be. In the Northern Cape and Namibia the prevailing plants are usually A. striata subsp. karasbergensis, now A. karasbergensis, with a more loosely branched inflorescence that is not flat-topped.

There is an even more rare and threatened (earlier) subspecies called A. striata subsp. komaggasensis, now A. kommagasensis, in a limited mountainous part of Namaqualand near Komaggas. It has white or yellow leaf margins and flowers in midsummer.

The habitat of this aloe is usually rocky slopes and hillsides among karoid scrub. The plant has become an important item in xeriscaped gardens, flourishing in arid conditions and full sun (Jeppe, 1969; Van Wyk and Smith, 2003).