In 1984 Coode regarded the taxon E. grandis as a synonym of E. angustifolius in his work Elaeocarpus in Australia and New Zealand, as it does not differ morphologically from the widespread and quite variable E. angustifolius. This was never entered into databases of native plants in Queensland, and in 2010 it was accepted as a valid species again by the Australian Plant Census. It was thus entered into the 2014 Atlas of Living Australia, which led it to be recognised again by the Plants of the World Online website as of 2022, despite Rafaël Govaerts noting the synonymy in 2001. Coode wrote again in 2010 in his study of E. angustifolius and its immediate relatives that as far as he can tell E. grandis is the same plant as the normal common and widespread form of E. angustifolius as found throughout the region. There is no difference between E. grandis from New South Wales and E. angustifolius from Malaysia, the Solomon Islands or the Philippines.
