What is "telegraph plant"

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.

n. ''Codariocalyx motorius'', a tropical Asian shrub, one of the few plants capable of rapid movement.

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