The genus name Dicoma is derived from the Greek di-, meaning ‘two’ and kome, meaning ‘tuft of hair’, referring to double pappus of the first described specimen. The species name capensis is Latin and means ‘of the Cape’ referring the Cape Province of South Africa, now split into three provinces, where the type specimen was collected.

Dicoma contains about 35 species, of which 19 occur in southern Africa. The genus was described by Cassini in 1817. The southern African species were first revised by Harvey in 1865 where eleven species were treated. The second revision was done by Wilson in 1923 where he revised the whole genus but only included seventeen species of southern Africa. The third and most recent revision was done by Netnou in 2001 where she recognized sixteen species and used characters such as morphology of involucral bracts, disc floret epidermal cell cuticle ornamentation, florets morphology, anatomy of achenes and type of the pappus to distinguish Dicoma from Macledium.