English botanist
James Edward Smith first described this species as
Embothrium silaifolium in 1793. At the time,
Embothrium was a
wastebasket taxon to which many proteaceae were assigned. It was given its current binomial name by
Robert Brown in his 1810
On the natural order of plants called Proteaceae. An alternative name,
Tricondylus silaifolius, published by
Joseph Knight in his 1809
On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae, was rejected, after Brown's 1810 description of the genus
Lomatia was officially conserved against Salisbury's 1809
Tricondylus. The species name is derived from resemblance of the leaves to the parsley genus
Silaum. Other common names include crinkle bush, parsley fern, wild parsley, and fern-leaved lomatia. Analysis of
chloroplast DNA showed that there is extensive hybridization between the five species (
L. arborescens,
L. fraseri,
L. ilicifolia,
L. myricoides and
L. silaifolia) of mainland southeastern Australia, though each is distinct enough to warrant species status. ==Distribution and habitat==