Plants similar to the type specimen, commonly referred to as the "T-form", were first collected in 1792 by the French exploration of Australia's southern coast led by Bruni d'Entrecasteaux.

The naturalist on board that expedition, Jacques Labillardière, first described D. binata in his 1804 publication on the flora of Australia, Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen.

The T-form, so named for its single leaf bifurcation spreading into a T-shape, is a robust plant from temperate zones that can grow up to 30 cm (12 in) and has green foliage that becomes redder with age.

[4][5] It was first validly described in an 1819 volume of Rees's Cyclopædia by James Edward Smith as D. dichotoma, based on the description by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander.

A. Mazrimas in a 1976 volume of the Carnivorous Plant Newsletter, but the publication of that name was invalid under the rules of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.

A final form, known for producing up to 40 terminal leaf points, is frequently titled f. extrema, another name that has never been validly published but remains in use.