[2][3][4] The shrub was first formally described in 1796 by Heinrich Schrader and Johann Christoph Wendland who gave it the name Protea pulchella in Sertum Hannoveranum, from the original specimen collected at Botany Bay.

[5][6] In 1810, the prolific botanist Robert Brown reclassified it in the new genus Petrophile as P. pulchella, publishing the name change in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London.

[7][8] The specific epithet pulchella meaning “beautiful” is derived from Latin,[9] although noted plant author John Wrigley feels it to be somewhat of a misnomer.

Joseph Knight, who had propagated and cultivated it successfully in England by 1809, reported, "It has few claims to a place in our collections.

It often grows with trees such as Sydney peppermint (Eucalyptus piperita), smooth-barked apple (Angophora costata) or more open woodland e.g. with scribbly gum (Eucalyptus sclerophylla), silvertop ash (E. sieberi) or with shrubs such as mountain devil (Lambertia formosa), broad-leaved drumsticks (Isopogon anemonifolius) and paperbark tea-tree (Leptospermum trinervium).