[4] Genetic diversity in this plant, assessed using allozymes, is so low that the species may not survive changing environmental conditions.

[5] Both the scientific name and the common names honor Ferdinand Rugel, a botanist and plant collector who collected plant specimens throughout the southeastern United States during the period 1840–1848.

The monotypic genus Rugelia was described by the American botanist Alvan Wentworth Chapman in 1860.

[6] In his description, Chapman attributed both the generic name Rugelia and the specific epithet nudicaulis to R.J. Shuttleworth.

[7] The names honor Ferdinand Rugel,[8] the botanist who collected the type specimen of Rugelia nudicaulis in 1842.