[1] It is named after Apparicio Duarte, a Brazilian botanist who studied the Aspidosperma species from which apparicine was first isolated.

[9] Research on Aspidosperma pyricollum has led to the discovery that apparicine is biosynthesised from tryptophan by "loss of C-2 and retention of C-3".

[1] Its structure was established through the methods of chemical decomposition, and the nascent field of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) decoupling using the 1H isotope of hydrogen.

[11] Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy showed that apparicine has a similar UV absorption to uleine,[12] and their chromophores were found to be identical.

[13] Dehydrogenation of apparicine followed by oxidation with permanganate allowed location of the two piperidine ring carbon substituents.