[5][6] This plant was first described in 1864 as Selwynia laurina by the German-born Australian botanist Ferdinand von Mueller, who published the name in his book Fragmenta phytographiæ Australiæ.

[7][8] In 1910 the German botanist Ludwig Diels reviewed the genus and gave this taxon the new combination Hypserpa laurina, which was published in Adolf Engler's work Das Pflanzenreich: Regni vegetabilis conspectus.

[9] The genus name Hypserpa is derived from a combination of the Ancient Greek words hypsos, "high", and herpo, "to creep", and refers to the habit of this plant reaching the forest canopy.

The species epithet laurina refers to the similarity of the leaves to those of plants in the family Lauraceae.

[6] Hypserpa laurina grows in rainforest on the east coast of northern Australia, from Airlie Beach in north Queensland, northwards to Cape York Peninsula and then to New Guinea.