The genus Freylinia was named after Count L. de Freylino. The Count was the owner of a famous garden in Buttigliera near Marengo in Italy in the early 19th century. The species name refers to Mr Floors Visser, who through his insight and actions, saved the plant from possible extinction. There are nine species of Freylinia in South Africa of which F. tropica, F. lanceolata and F. undulata make beautiful garden plants.

Mr Floors Visser first collected a flowering specimen of this plant in 1947. It was known locally as suurlat (sour rod) at Hermanuskraal (Veldrif district). This specimen was sent to Prof. Compton at the Compton Herbarium, who recognized it as an undescribed species of Freylinia. In 1954 the owner of Volstruisvlei, a wheat farm in the Hermanuskraal area, enlarged his wheat field and in the process destroyed that whole population of plants. Mr Visser, who realized the rarity of this species, quickly collected four of the ploughed up plants and planted them in his garden at Grootklipfontein (Aurora), where two survived.

In 1983 there was further interest by Mr Ernst van Jaarsveld from Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, who set out in search of this species in the region from old Hermanuskraal coastward, but had no luck in finding the plant. Through much searching and inquiries he located Mr Floors Visser at the farm in Aurora. Mr. Visser described the plant's appearance, where he had collected it and the habitat in which it had grown. Despite an extensive search of Hermanuskraal and the surrounding areas, there was no evidence of the plants. It was then realised that had Mr. Floors Visser not saved the plants in 1954 and replanted them, the species might have become extinct. His actions were acknowledged in the naming of the plant. Subsequently another population of the species was found near Hopefield.

It is interesting to note that long before Mr Visser sent a specimen to Prof Compton, Carl Thunberg (1743-1828) had collected a specimen of this Freylinia on his travels in South Africa which is in the herbarium in Uppsala, Sweden, but he never named this plant or noted exactly where it he collected it.