The genus Paranomus gets its name from its unusual leaves. It means illegal, or contrary to custom, from the Greek para meaning beyond or contrary to, and nomos custom or law, referring to the leaves that are different from the normal pattern or out of the ordinary.

The species name reflexus means reflexed from the Latin reflecto, to bend back, turn back or turn round, and refers to the way the flowers bend downwards as they open. This genus also records the infamous clash between the botanists Salisbury and Brown. Brown's name for this genus was Nivenia to honour the plant collector James Niven, but Salisbury published before Brown, so his name Paranomus is the one that is valid and in use today.

A sceptre is a symbolic ornamental staff held by a sovereign or ruling monarch or worn as a badge or emblem of authority. It is a staff topped with various ornaments depending on the country and period, e.g. a globe, a bird, a lily, or a cross. Paranomus species have earned their common name because their flowerheads resemble a sceptre. The first one to be given this name was Paranomus sceptrum-gustavianus, King Gustav's sceptre. Sparrman found it and named it in 1777, and the common name was later extended to all members of the genus.

The genus Paranomus belongs in the Protea Family (Proteaceae). It is a small genus of 18 species that occur mainly in the mountains of the Western and Eastern Cape from the Cederberg to Uitenhage, with the highest concentration of species in the districts of Caledon, Worcester and Swellendam. They are easily recognised by their leaves which vary from dissected to entire, and many species have both at the same time. This is not the only unusual feature of the leaves; they are also strange in that they don't have a distinct upper and lower surface and don't lie flat like most leaves. They also have a very primitive system of veins. In most modern plants leaves have a midrib from which the minor veins arise. In Paranomus the veins fork repeatedly and don't meet up or unite. This type of venation is characteristic of primitive vascular plants. The dissected leaves have a groove on the upper surface and end in a smooth, shiny, often translucent point, and are always slightly curved upwards. Flowerheads are spike-like made up of many individual flowers. The flowers are grouped into fours, each group of four carried underneath a single leathery bract. These bracts stay on the plant for a year or more, becoming like tiny wooden shells and remaining long after the seeds have dropped off.