They are considered fairly easy to grow and they may produce large quantities of seeds that germinate freely around the parent plant.

The genus was designated in 1895 by Karl Moritz Schumann[2] and named after Pierre Rebut (1828–1902), a French cactus nurseryman.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century there was a broad consensus, as reflected in Kew's list of Vascular Plant Families and Genera, that the following genera should be regarded as synonyms of Rebutia:[5] (The generic names Bridgesia, Spegazzinia, Echinorebutia, Eurebutia, Mediorebutia, Neogymnantha and Setirebutia are invalid, the first two because they are homonyms of Bridgesia Bert.

[citation needed]) The history of the taxonomic treatment of the genera Rebutia, Aylostera, Weingartia, Sulcorebutia and Cintia is summarized below.

[7] As of December 2022[update], Plants of the World Online agreed with Mosti et al. in keeping Aylostera separate,[8] and also merged Cintia and Sulcorebutia into Weingartia,[9] resulting in Rebutia having only three species.