| 1. | (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. |
| Noun | 1. | telegraph plant - erect tropical Asian shrub whose small lateral leaflets rotate on their axes and jerk up and down under the influence of sunshine |