 Linnaeus' circumscription of the genus was much wider than today, since he included species that now are in several other genera of the Gorteriinae, such as "G. squarrosa" (= "Cullumia squarrosa") in 1760, "Gorteria rigens" (= "Gazania rigens") and "G. fruticosa" (= "Berkheya barbata"), both in 1763.Carl Peter Thunberg in 1798 reviewed "Gorteria" and considered the interlocked margins (or connation) of the involucral bracts diagnostic for the genus, but this is in fact common to the entire subtribe Gorteriinae.He distinguished ten herbaceous species and two woody, seven including "G. diffusa" and "G. integrifolia" new to science.