There is an 18th century specimen of Hermannia hyssopifolia in the Linnean herbarium in Sweden but its exact date and the collector are not recorded. Later specimens were collected around 1830 by Franz Drège and Carl Zeyher, both important German plantsmen.

Paul Hermann was a 17th century physician and traveller and leading botanist of his day. He was still working on his collection of Cape plants when he died in 1695. Part of this collection can be found in the British Natural History Museum. His contribution to botany is commemorated in the genus Hermannia.

The species name hyssopifolia means with leaves like hyssop. The genus Hyssopus is a small group of Mediterranean and Asian aromatic herbaceous plants unrelated to the hermannias (they belong to the family Lamiaceae) which have been known since biblical times.

More than 90% of the approximately 200 species of Hermannia are found in southern Africa and the majority of these are in the Cape. A few other species occur in tropical Africa, Australia and Central or North America.

Hermannias were in the family Sterculiaceae but are now classified in the Malvaceae. There is a close relationship between the families Sterculiaceae, Malvaceae, Bombacaceae and Tiliaceae. Within these families, some of the characteristics that members have in common are now known to have evolved separately in different places and they are not necessarily inherited from a common ancestor. This places their status as families in doubt and the latest revision of this group (Bayer et al. 1999) redefine them as subfamilies of Malvaceae sensu lato (meaning in the broad sense).