The plant was named for him by his associate Carl Linnaeus, and the genus has been sometimes spelt as Bartschia.

[1] Starbia, an anagram of Bartsia, is another genus of Orobanchaceae, synonym of Alectra.

Bartsia sensu stricto (e.g. B. alpina) is the sister genus to Odontites, Bellardia, Tozzia, Hedbergia, and Euphrasia.

These two plants, B. alpina, and the many Andean species are three distinct lineages, making the genus polyphyletic.

Accepted species names include the following taxa classified according to geographic distribution groups.