In 1677, Danish physician Thomas Bartholin made brief mention of it under the name Miranda herba, Latin for "marvellous herb".

[13] Three years later, Dutch merchant Jacob Breyne referred to this species as Bandura zingalensium, after a local name for the plant.

[12] Bandura subsequently became the most commonly used name for the tropical pitcher plants, until Linnaeus coined Nepenthes in 1737.

[15] Three years later, in 1686, English naturalist John Ray quoted Grim as saying:[10] The root draws up moisture from the earth which with the help of the sun's rays rises up into the plant itself and then flows down through the stems and nerves of the leaves into the natural utensil to be stored there until used for human needs.

[translated from Latin in Pitcher-Plants of Borneo][15]Linnaeus used Grim's original specific epithet when naming N. distillatoria in 1753.