This species was previously placed in the genus Tripteris, the genus name is derived from the Greek words, tri meaning ‘three’, and pteris meaning ‘wings’. It is currently placed in the genus Osteospermum, this genus name also derived from Greek, osteon meaning ‘bone’ and spermum meaning ‘seed’. The species name oppositifolium means that the leaves are oppositely arranged. Originally this species was described as Calendula oppositifolia by William Aiton (1731-1793), a British gardener and botanist of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (Aiton 1789). The name was changed to Osteospermum oppositifolium by Norlind (1960), a Swedish botanist, who was the curator of the Botanical Museum of Lund from 1950 to 1961. He was interested in taxonomy, morphology, phytogeography, cytology and ecology, especially of South African Compositae (Calenduleae) and the flora of Mongolia. In 1994, Nordenstam synonymized O. oppositifolia under Tripteris oppositifolia. He is a Swedish botanist, who was the curator of in Swedish Museum of Stockholm in 1969, and is interested in taxonomy and phytogeography of South African Compositae and Liliaceae. At present it is back in the genus Osteospermum.