1999年,克氏云杉由史蒂芬·杰克逊(Stephen T. Jackson)、翁成郁在美国国家科学院院刊(PNAS)上首度描述,文章题为“第四纪晚期北美东部一种树木的灭绝”。种加词“critchfieldii”代表已故植物学家威廉·伯克·克里奇菲尔德(William Burke Critchfield),命名意在致敬他“支持、鼓励对针叶植物基因结构中,第四纪历史塑造作用的认识”[1]。
^Jackson, Stephen T.; Webb, Robert S.; Anderson, Katharine H.; Overpeck, Jonathan T.; Webb III, Thompson; Williams, John W.; Hansen, Barbara C.S. Vegetation and environment in Eastern North America during the Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews. February 2000, 19 (6): 489–508. Bibcode:2000QSRv...19..489J. ISSN 0277-3791. doi:10.1016/s0277-3791(99)00093-1.
^MANDER, L.; RODRIGUEZ, J.; MUELLER, P. G.; JACKSON, S. T.; PUNYASENA, S. W. Identifying the pollen of an extinct spruce species in the Late Quaternary sediments of the Tunica Hills region, south-eastern United States. Journal of Quaternary Science. October 2014, 29 (7): 711–721. Bibcode:2014JQS....29..711M. ISSN 0267-8179. doi:10.1002/jqs.2745.