telegraph plant


noun
  1. a tick trefoil, Desmodium motorium, of the legume family, native to tropical Asia, noted for the spontaneous, jerking, signallike motions of its leaflets.

Origin of telegraph plant

1
First recorded in 1880–85

Words Nearby telegraph plant

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use telegraph plant in a sentence

  • Portion of stem and leaves of Telegraph-plant (Desmodium gyrans), almost of natural size.

  • I have found identical antagonistic reactions in the pulsating tissue of Desmodium gyrans, the telegraph plant.

    Life Movements in Plants | Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose

British Dictionary definitions for telegraph plant

telegraph plant

noun
  1. a small tropical Asian leguminous shrub, Desmodium gyrans, having small leaflets that turn in various directions during the day and droop at night

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012