 "Voacanga africana" was named by botanist Otto Stapf in 1894 after he received a type specimen from George Scott-Elliot, who had been participating in the Sierra Leone Boundary Commission.From its discovery in 1894 onward, botanists considered the plant to have little economic usefulness apart from as a rubber adulterant.This changed when, in 1955, French chemists Maurice Marie-Janot and Robert Goutarel extracted three alkaloids from the "Voacanga africana" which they believed could be used in the treatment of heart conditions.