Plants in the genus Harpullia are usually dioecious shrubs or trees, the foliage covered with simple and star-shaped hairs.

[2][6] In 1994, 1985 and 1982 Dutch botanists Pieter Willem Leenhouts and M. Vente published a treatment in Flora Malesiana, a natural species groups classification attempt and a taxonomic revision, respectively.

Buijsen, Peter C. van Welzen and R.W.J.M.van der Ham published a morphological phylogenetics analysis and biogeography study of the whole genus.

[11] In 2011 Japanese–American botanist Wayne Takeuchi formally published the name and description of H. mabberleyana, the "first member of the genus to be discovered in New Guinea since 1940".

[14] The one most commonly known to Australian horticulture is Harpullia pendula which is widely planted as a street tree along the east coast.