 When first discovered and listed as a species it was placed in the genus "Pinus" (Lambert, 1803), and then later with the firs, "Abies" (Poir 1817), and then with its own genus, "Dammara".It was first recognised as being part of "Agathis" in 1807, when it was listed as "Agathis loranthifolia", and beyond that with species names "beccarii", "celebica" and "macrostachys", although it acquired many more names before "dammara" was settled on.