[5] In 1811, the German botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow gave the description of a species named Aquilegia anemonoides.

This species is thought to have been first collected by Petr Ivanovich Schangin [ru], a Russian geologist who performed an expedition to the Altai Mountains in 1786.

The German botanist Carl Friedrich von Ledebour listed the species as Aquilegia minuta in a manuscript.

The multiplicity of taxonomic synonyms for P. anemonoides was derided by American botanist Robert Nold as "an absolutely harrowing example of the imprecision of botany and the fallibility of observation".

[7] The Flora of China recorded the species's presence in Afghanistan, Bhutan, Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, and Russia, as well as the Chinese jurisdictions of Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Xizang.