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 and has green foliage that becomes redder with age. This form has been described as being genetically stable. The second observed form, commonly referred to as
var. dichotoma, is similar to the T-form, but the foliage is yellower and the leaf typically divides into four terminal leaf points, though it has been known to produce as many as eight leaf points. This morphological form was first published as "var.
dichotoma" by J. 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. Even though the name is not valid, it is still widely used in cultivation to refer to this
D. binata form. This was one of many plants used by
Charles Darwin in his investigation of carnivorous plants for his 1875 book
Insectivorous Plants. A third described form, often called
D. binata f. multifida, has even more leaf divisions, bifurcating several times to produce anywhere from eight to 16 or even 30 terminal leaf points. Neither of these names were validly published, but again they remain in use among carnivorous plant growers. 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. Two
cultivars of
D. binata have been named.
Drosera 'Giant' is a particularly large form of the "var.
dichotoma" type and was published by
Peter D'Amato in 1998 and registered in 1999. The other,
Drosera 'Marston Dragon', was published by
Adrian Slack in 1986 and registered in 2001. ==See also==