The genus Eugenia is named after Austrian General Francois Eugene, Prince of Savoy (1663–1736, who was a patron of botany and horticulture.  The specific name natalitia refers to its region of origin, Natal,  now known as KwaZulu-Natal. 

Eugenia is a genus of flowering plants in the Myrtaceae, a family of woody plants that have flower parts in multiples of 4 or 5, with simple, alternate and leathery leaves that contain essential oils. Myrtaceae (myrtle family) is widely distributed in tropical and warm-temperate regions of the world with approximately 5 950 species in about 132 genera, mainly in tropical and subtropical Australia and South America. This family is represented in South Africa by only 3 genera: Eugenia (wild myrtle), Metrosideros and Syzygium (waterberry). Species covered in this series to date include: Syzygium pondoense, Syzygium cordatum, Syzygium guineense and Metrosideros angustifolius.

Eugenia is a taxonomically difficult genus as it is often confused with Syzygium, a close relative, many species of which were wrongly classified. It was first thought that the nature of the embryo and degree of adherence of the testa to the cotyledon was the most important differentiating factor, but this was later disproven, due to too much variation even amongst species. In truth, there are very few ways in which one can find a single differentiating characteristic, most of them are shared and only occurring more prolifically in one genus but still appearing in the other. Thus one must look at the flower for their best chance. In Syzigium the limb of the calyx is obovate (tear drop shaped) with the limb being nearly entire (not with deeply parted lobes) or repandly lobed (wavy); petals are concrete (clustered and overlapping and not spreading), falling off in the shape of a calyptra (cap-like). In Eugenia however, the tube of the calyx is almost globose (globe-like) and the limb is divided down to the ovary; with non-concrete petals.