 Peter Goldblatt transferred the species to "Anomatheca laxa" in 1971; Nicholas Brown changed it to "Lapeirousia laxa" in 1928; Goldblatt with his colleague John Charles Manning settled on "Freesia laxa" in 1995.Separately, in 1830, John Lindley described "Anomatheca cruenta" which John Baker transferred to "Lapeirousia cruenta" in 1892.Lindley's plant is now regarded as part of "Freesia laxa".