The tall everlasting was collected by the English botanist and explorer Allan Cunningham and described by him in Augustin Pyramus de Candolle's 1838 work Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis as Helichrysum elatum, the species name being the Latin adjective elatus tall. The large genus Helichrysum was long recognised as polyphyletic and many of its members have been transferred to new genera. Botanist Paul Graham Wilson erected the new genus Coronidium for 17 species of daisy of the eastern states of Australia, and it was given its new name of C. elatum in 2008. Three subspecies are recognised, two of which are highly restricted in distribution. Subspecies vellerosum is found on the summit of Mount Warning and is more woolly-leaved and reaches a height of , and subspecies minus is found only at Point Lookout in New England National Park. Reaching 80 cm high, it has smaller and thinner leaves than the nominate subspecies.