It was originally published by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1824, as a species native to a narrow coastal strip of northern Western Australia, the epithet "phillyreoides" referring to a similarity with Phillyrea.

Two more Western Australian species — P. angustifolium and P. ligustrifolium— were published over the next 15 years, and George Bentham later lumped together all three as a single species under the misspelled name P. phillyraeoides.

The 'original true' Pittosporum phillyreoides named by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle was only native to a narrow coastal strip of northern Western Australia.

[4] Pittosporum phillyreoides, a name still seen used in the plant nursery trade, is cultivated as an ornamental tree for planting in gardens.

It has a somewhat columnar growth with weeping form and foliage texture, and is drought tolerant once established.