[6] This species was first described (as Actephila mearsii) by the Australian botanist Cyril Tenison White in 1938, and published in 1939.

[5] White's description was based on samples of fruit and leaves only,[4] and he placed the species in the family Euphorbiaceae.

However in 1957 another Australian botanist – Lindsay Stuart Smith – erected the new genus Peripentadenia within the family Elaeocarpaceae to accommodate this plant.

[6] The buff quandong is restricted to the eastern and southern edges of the Atherton Tableland, southwest of Cairns.

[4][8] Fruits of this species is eaten by cassowaries, musky rat-kangaroos, and king parrots.