| Telegraph Plant | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Branch during day (left) and night (right)
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| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Codariocalyx motorius (Houtt.) H. Ohashi |
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| Synonyms | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Many, see text |
The Telegraph Plant (Codariocalyx motorius, often placed in Desmodium[1]), also known as Semaphore Plant, is a tropical Asian shrub, one of a few plants capable of rapid movement; others include Mimosa and the Venus Flytrap. It is widely distributed throughout Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. It can even be found on the Society Islands, a remote chain of islands in the South Pacific. It produces small purple flowers. Telegraph Plant contains small amounts of tryptamine alkaloids in leaves, stem and root, namely DMT and 5-MeO-DMT. This plant is famous for its movement of small lateral leaflets which rotate on their axis and jerk up and down with a period of about 3 to 5 minutes; this was likened to Morse code, hence the common names. Charles Darwin in 1880 published his last work before his death, The Power of Movement in Plants, which describes this plant in detail.
Synonyms
This plant is conspicuous and known since long. It has a considerably number of junior synonyms:[1]
- Codariocalyx gyrans (L. f.) Hassk.
- Desmodium gyrans (L.) DC.
- Desmodium gyrans (L. f.) DC.
- Desmodium gyrans (L.) DC. var. roylei (Wight & Arn.)Baker
- Desmodium motorium (Houtt.) Merr.
- Desmodium roylei Wight & Arn.
- Hedysarum gyrans L. f.
- Hedysarum motorium Houtt.
- Hedysarum motorius Houtt.
- Meibomia gyrans (L. f.) Kuntze
Footnotes
References
- International Legume Database & Information Service (ILDIS) (2005): Codariocalyx motorius. Version 10.01, November 2005. Retrieved 2007-DEC-18.
External links
- Trout’s Notes on the Genus Desmodium Chemistry, ethnomedicine, pharmacology, synonyms and miscellany (pdf)
