[8] The first description was published by Jacques Labillardière in Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen (1805) as Loranthus floribundus,[9] the specific epithet describing the profuse flowers he had observed at Esperance.

A description was published by George Don using Brown's name Nuytsia,[2] an epithet that commemorates the seventeenth-century Dutch explorer and colonial official Pieter Nuyts.

[10] For thousands of years, the tree's striking yellow and orange flowers have been a warning sign for Minang Noongar people that fire and flames are coming.

Although Nuytsia seeds germinate readily and seedlings are easy to grow for a year or two, cultivation of the species to maturity is regarded as difficult, with little success outside its native habitat.

It appears on a variety of soil types throughout Southwest Australia, the distribution of the species extends to the east of the Esperance Plain and to the north on the Geraldton Sandplains.

[4] The wood of the tree is noted as commercially-useless, and cultivation and transplanting is difficult or impractical for gardens or landscaping, as indicated by the state's conservator, Charles Lane Poole (1921), deeming the showy display of flowers to be its only desirable quality.

The Annals of Natural History (1842) reported a specimen being grown at a government garden in 1841, and the attempt to raise the few seeds it produced; the correspondence is printed as from "H. Bidwell … of Sidney" [sic].

[4] The parasitic relationship of Nuytsia floribunda with host species was poorly understood until an investigation by the botanist D. A. Herbert was presented to the Royal Society of Western Australia, contradicting the assumption that proximity to other trees such as banksia and jarrah was a requirement.

Herbert discovered the extended network of filaments that embrace the roots of many other plant species, explaining the persistence of trees conserved in agricultural land cleared for introduced crops.

Nuytsia floribunda was once common and well known on the coastal plain around Perth, often remaining in remnant bushland and gardens, becoming more scarce as the extent and density of urban development increased.