William Jack, Arnold's successor in the Sumatran Bencoolen colony, recollected the plant and was the first to officially describe the new species under the name "R. titan" in 1820. It is thought quite likely that Jack rushed the name to publication because he feared that the French might publish what they knew of the species, and thus rob the British of potential 'glory'. Apparently aware of Jack's work, Brown finally had the article published in the "Transactions of the Linnean Society" a year later, formally introducing the name "R. arnoldii" (he ignores Jack's work in his article).