Loddiges Nursery called it the Rough Metrosideros[REF] after the dwarf apple was described by James Edward Smith in 1797 as Metrosideros hispida, having been collected by Surgeon-General of New South Wales, John White in 1795 [REF].
Kevin Thiele and Pauline Ladiges published a phylogenetic study based on morphology and came up with the smudgy apple (Angophora woodsiana) as the dwarf apple's closest relative [REF].