Its common name comes from the archipelago of its discovery, the Kerguelen Islands, and its generic name derives from Sir John Pringle, president of the Royal Society at the time of its discovery by Captain James Cook's Surgeon, William Anderson in 1776.

This climate, plus the absence of potential insect pollinators, means the Kerguelen cabbage can only survive through a process of self-pollination.

[4] At the mature stage, this species exhibits several adaptations linked to cold tolerance such as high polyamine levels.

In May 1840, botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker was the first to make a technical analysis of the plant, and to assign the Latin name.

Rabbits which were introduced on the Kerguelen around 1874, feed on the cabbage, and the plant is now limited to locations that cannot be accessed by them.