Slender terrestrial to 30 cm tall. Leaves 2 or 3, to 30 cm long, to 6 mm wide, erect, channelled. Flowers 1?10, to 3.5 cm wide, mostly yellow with brownish blotches; spring. Dorsal sepal broad-ovate, erect. Lateral sepals linear, often crossed. Petals spreading. Labellum lobes of similar length, callus of 2 ridges.
D. pardina is part of a complex of closely related species, all of which were once known broadly as D. maculata. In the strict sense the latter species has smaller flowers with narrower labellum side lobes, and is restricted to NSW.
SE Australia.
D. aurea Sm. from NSW is a slender terrestrial with up to 5 flowers that are golden-yellow to orange with darker markings on the labellum.
D. brevifolia R.S. Rogers from S Australia is a slender terrestrial with up to 5 flowers that are bright yellow with brown markings towards the base of the perianth segments.
D. laxiflora Lindl. from Western Australia is a slender terrestrial with up to 5 small flowers that are golden yellow with brownish suffusions.
D. sulphurea R. Br. from SE Australia is a slender terrestrial with up to 7 flowers that are bright yellow with brownish markings on the labellum and dorsal sepal.
Source: (2005). Orchidaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.