The plant grows as above-ground bulb, preferring seasonally wet, hot, sandy soils and full sun.

[3] The botanist William Herbert segregated Ammocharis from Crinum in 1821, with two species, A. coranica and A. falcata (both originally Amaryllis).

With respect to A. longifolia=falcata they concluded that while very closely related, it was sufficiently distinct as to deserve of generic status, coining the term Cybistetes Ancient Greek: κυβιστητης, or tumbler, after the way the wind tumbles the infructescence.

With the development of molecular phylogenetics, Meerow et al. established Amaryllideae and its subtribe Crininae as monophyletic taxa.

Snijman and Kolberg also place this species within Ammocharis, and provide a key to the genus.

[10] The genus name derives from two Greek words: ἄμμος (ammos) sand, and χάρις (charis) joy, signifying "delight of the sandy plains" (where it is found).