It grows in sandy soils at the margins of swamps and near granite outcrops along the Western Australian coast from Albany north to just south of Geraldton.

[2][3] D. gigantea was first described and named by John Lindley in his 1839 A sketch of the vegetation of the Swan River Colony.

geniculata, that grows to 0.45 m (1.5 ft) tall in black sandy soils near Perth and to its south.

[6] Others disagree with this assessment, as Western Australia's online flora database, FloraBase, lists the varietal taxon (D. gigantea var.

[7] The shoots of D. gigantea have been found to contain the rare secondary metabolites naphthoquinone, glucosides, droserone, hydroxydroserone, and plumbagin.