It is endemic to Western Australia and grows on granite outcrops or in sandy or laterite soils.

D. microphylla produces small, circular, peltate carnivorous leaves along erect stems that can be 10–40 cm (4–16 in) high.

It blooms from June to September, displaying its large golden sepals and smaller, variably-coloured petals.

In 1848, Jules Émile Planchon described the new species D. calycina, which was later reduced to synonymy with D. microphylla.

Lastly, in his 1906 taxonomic monograph of the family Droseraceae, Ludwig Diels also described a new variety, D. microphylla var.