It was defined by the French botanist Jacques Labillardière in his 1806 work Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen.

[6] The genus was classified in the tribe Polygaleae by Swiss botanist Robert Hippolyte Chodat in 1896.

[7] This was not adopted widely, and a cladistic study based on morphology published in 1993 suggested they remain as separate genera.

This analysis placed Comersperma basal to a group comprising the genera Polygala, Monnina subg.

[4] Although the flowers are smaller than those of the related genus Polygala, the racemes can be showy,[9] especially of floriferous species such as Comesperma ericinum.