It is native to the miombo savanna (mainly Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania).

It is named after the German explorer Paul Reichard.

[2] Reichard's seedeater was formerly placed in the genus Serinus but phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences found that the genus was polyphyletic.

[3] The genus was therefore split and a number of species including Reichard's seedeater were moved to the resurrected genus Crithagra.

[4][5] The stripe-breasted seedeater (C. striatipectus) was formerly conspecific, but was split as a distinct species by the IOC in 2021.