[2] The French botanist Paul Évariste Parmentier described this species as Drimys muelleri, placing it in the family Winteraceae, in 1896.

[3] Ferdinand von Mueller had sent him leaves and stems without any flowering parts, from which Parmentier had concluded it lay within the genus Drimys, though was not like any existing species.

Subspecies augustifolia grows in the west of the state on nutrient poor soils and has narrow, hairy linear to oblanceolate leaves.

[1][6] Populations with characteristics intermediate between P. muelleri and P. gunnii are known from Lake Dove–Cradle Mountain and Adamsons Peak–South Cape localities.

muelleri is found on the central plateau, including Mount Field, and northeastern highlands of the state.

It grows in open forest dominated by Eucalyptus or Nothofagus cunninghamii, often in damp areas and south-facing slopes with mossy ground cover.