The first description of the correct name of the species is attributed to the French botanist Jacques Denys Choisy in Description des guttifères de l'Inde (1849) based on the basionym Cambogia binucao from the Spanish friar and botanist Francisco Manuel Blanco in Flora de Filipinas in 1837.

[1][4] The plant is known as binukaw (also spelled binucao, binukau, or bilukaw) in Tagalog, and batuan in Visayan languages.

Other names include Ilocano balakut, Bikol buragris, and Panay Visayan haras.

Binukaw is an evergreen tree growing to a maximum height of around 25 m (82 ft) with a trunk around 40 cm (16 in) in diameter.

In Davao City, paksiw na takway is blended with mora moro or mackerel scad (galunggong).