telegraph plant

American  

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.

---

telegraph plant British  

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

---

Etymology

Origin of telegraph plant

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

The existence of these spontaneous movements could easily be demonstrated by means of the Indian "Bon Charal", the telegraph plant, whose small leaflets danced continuously up and down.

From Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose His Life and Speeches by Bose, Jagadis Chandra, Sir

Desmodium, des-mō′di-um, n. a genus of leguminous plants to which the D. gyrans, or telegraph plant, belongs.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various