They occur from East Mediterranean to West Siberia and Central Asia.

[4] In 1806, Christian Friedrich Stephan formed the genus Biebersteinia, then in 1841 Endlicher converted it to a family status.

It was then placed in Geraniaceae by Pierre Edmond Boissier,[5] in 1867, and changed by various botanists (including Knuth (1912), Thorne (1992), Cronquist (1981, 1988), Dahlgren (1989) and Takhtajan (1987 and 1997)).

The name refers to a German botanist Friedrich August Marschall von Bieberstein (1768–1826).

In 2001, five types of flavonoids have been derived from extracts from Biebersteinia orphanidis leaves.