The species was first described scientifically by the French botanist Étienne Pierre Ventenat in 1798,[REF] and sanctioned by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon under that name in his 1801 Synopsis Methodica Fungorum [REF].
The specific epithet hadriani is named after the Dutch botanist Hadrianus Junius (1512-1575),[REF] who wrote a pamphlet on stinkhorn mushrooms in 1564 (Phalli, ex fungorum genere, in Hollandiae) [REF].