[1] The species was described by Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1890, under the name "Habenaria secundiflora".

[3] The species was first legitimately named in 1898 by Friedrich Kraenzlin as Peristylus secundiflorus.

[2] A molecular phylogenetic study in 2014 found that species of Neottianthe, Amitostigma and Ponerorchis were mixed together in a single clade, making none of the three genera monophyletic as then circumscribed.

Hemipilia secundiflora is native to the Himalayas, including Tibet, Nepal and the Assam region.

Its range extends to Myanmar and south-central China (western Sichuan and north-western Yunnan).