telegraph plant

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

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}]

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.]

[email protected]