telegraph plant

2 definitions found

telegraph plant - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Telegraph plant \Telegraph plant\ (Bot.),
     A tick trefoil (Meibomia gyrans formerly Desmodium gyrans
     ), native of the East Indies; it is a leguminous plant
     whose lateral leaflets jerk up and down like the arms of a
     semaphore, and also rotate on their axes.
     [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

telegraph plant - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  telegraph plant
      n 1: erect tropical Asian shrub whose small lateral leaflets
           rotate on their axes and jerk up and down under the
           influence of sunshine [syn: telegraph plant, semaphore plant
           , Codariocalyx motorius, Desmodium motorium,
           Desmodium gyrans]