Originally described by the British botanist Aylmer Lambert, Abronia umbellata was collected in 1786 from Monterey, California by the gardner Jean Nicolas Collignon of the French La Pérouse expedition, which had stopped at the capitol of Alta California as part of a journey of scientific exploration spanning the Pacific Ocean.
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While Collignon and his shipmates perished in a wreck near Vanikoro, some of his collection had previously been shipped back to France during a stop at the Portuguese-held Macao, including the seeds of Abronia umbellata.
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They were planted at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, and Lambert eventually named their descendants Abronia umbellata, making this species the first Californian flower described by science.