desmodium gyrans

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

Desmodium gyrans
    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}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Moving \Mov"ing\, a.
   1. Changing place or posture; causing motion or action; as, a
      moving car, or power.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Exciting movement of the mind or feelings; adapted to move
      the sympathies, passions, or affections; touching;
      pathetic; as, a moving appeal.
      [1913 Webster]

            I sang an old moving story.           --Coleridge.
      [1913 Webster]

   {Moving force} (Mech.), a force that accelerates, retards, or
      deflects the motion of a body.

   {Moving plant} (Bot.), a leguminous plant ({Desmodium
      gyrans}); -- so called because its leaflets have a
      distinct automatic motion.
      [1913 Webster]

from The 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.]