'Desmodium gyrans' definitions:
Definition of 'Desmodium gyrans'
(from WordNet)
noun
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]
Definition of 'Desmodium gyrans'
From: GCIDE
- 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.]
Definition of 'Desmodium gyrans'
From: GCIDE
- 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]