[2][3] Currently classified as "Not threatened" by the NZTCS, it was first described in 1839 by Allan Cunningham, before being demoted to a hybrid by Rhys Gardner in 1978 and then reinstated by M. F. Merrett and B. D. Clarkson in 2000.

In a 1978 article in the New Zealand Journal of Botany (NZJB) the botanist Rhys Gardner took a different approach, accepting only A. banksii, A. macrophylla, A. pusilla and a new species A. turneri, considering the rest to be hybrids.

[5] In the most current incarnation of the genus, however, A. quercifolia is accepted as a species, as suggested by M. F. Merrett and B. D. Clarkson in a NZJB article from 2000 in which they dispute the claims of hybridism and synonymity.

[6] Many vascular plant species grow in association with A. quercifolia but it is consistently found with Tawa, Hangehange, Rewarewa, Mahoe, and Suppplejack.

The plant is commonly browsed by pests such as Brushtail possums, feral goats, Fallow deer, and potentially also hares.

Although rare now, pollination has been recorded by Hihi and Korimako and it's suspected that moths also play a role, with the species Epyaxa rosearia identified in particular.