The plant was first described by Linnaeus the Younger in 1782, 29 years after his father's description of H. coccineus.

In 1838, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque placed H. pubescens in a new genus Leucodesmis, H. coccineus in Perihema, and H. carneus in Serena.

The English botanist Richard Anthony Salisbury (1761-1829) in his 1866 posthumous publication 'Genera of Plants', placed H. amarylloides under Melicho and H. albiflos under Diacles.

H. pubescens occurs at elevations up to 300 m from Cape Town northwards along the coast to southern Namibia.

Formerly it was known only from the south western Cape, but collections from north of the Olifants River into Namibia, led to a revision of its geographic limits.