 The species was first formally described by the botanist Carl Meissner in 1844 as part of the work "Leguminosae" in "Plantae Preissianae'.It was reclassified as "Racosperma horridulum" by Leslie Pedley in 2003 and then transferred back to genus "Acacia" in 2006.It is native to an area along the south coast in the Peel and South West regions of Western Australia.