The genus name Agathosma, is derived from the Greek, agathos, which means ‘good’ and osme, which refers to ‘fragrance’. This is indicative of the distinctive aromatic foliage so typical of the genus and the family. The specific epithet muirii honours the medical doctor, naturalist, amateur-botanist and cultural historian John Muir, who collected the type specimen for this species. He was born on 18 June 1974 in Castle Douglas, Scotland. In 1896 Muir came to the Cape Colony in South Africa to practice as medical doctor, where he worked in several towns before finally settling in Riversdale. He extensively collected plants from the area, and seeds found along the coastline. Over time his passion for driftseeds and the study of shells became his core interest and in 1923 he retired and devoted himself to roaming the coastline. In 1929 Muir donated his driftseed collection to the Stellenbosch University. They deemed it so impressive that he was awarded a honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) degree. He donated his herbarium to the National Herbarium in Pretoria. The South African Museum in Cape Town was the recipient of his shell collection. His passion for folklore, botanical writings and historical objects also saw him publishing papers on these subjects and contributing local names of plants, shells and birds to the Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (WAT), an elaborate dictionary in Afrikaans.

John Muir is commemorated in the genus Muiria N.E.Br. and several species, which include Euryops muirii C.A.Sm., Aloe lineata (Aiton) Haw. var. muirii (Marloth) Reynolds, Leucospermum muirii Phillips, Conophytum muirii N.E. Br., Erica muirii L.Bol. and Leucadendron muirii Phillips. Muir’s wife, Susanna neé Steyn, is remembered in the plant world for the species Thesium susannae A.W.Hill and Protea susannae Phillips. The succulent species Muiria hortenseae N.E.Br. is named for his daughter. Muir died on 3 August 1947 in Riversdale.

There are currently some 160 genera and a total of 1 650 species recognized in Rutaceae. The family plays an important economic role within agriculture and other industries, and is common throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the world, such as Australia or South Africa. The family contains about 21 genera and 301 species, which include the genera Vepris, Zanthoxylum and Calodendrum found in southern Africa. The genus Agathosma consists of roughly 150 species of small to large evergreen shrubs. This genus, as well as Diosma, Coleonema, Acmadenia and Adenandra, are mostly confined to the Western Cape. This region is home the greatest diversity of species in South Africa.