Desmodium Gyrans - Leaflet Movement Rhythms and Experiment, Market Reports, Authors, Seed Supply

The Telegraph Plant (Codariocalyx motorius, often placed in Desmodium , 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.
Darwin called the plant Hedysarum; modern botanists call it either Desmodium gyrans or, more correctly these days, Codariocalyx motorius; its common name is Dancing Grass or Telegraph plant or Semaphore plant -- after the leaf movements, which resemble semaphore signals.
The Telegraph Plant also known as Dancing Plant or Curiosity Plant or Semaphore plant, is a tropical Asian shrub known for its slow movement of the small lateral leaflets which are rotating on their axes and jerking up and down with a period of about 3 to 5 minutes.
The small clover type leaves will move in jerky motions when under the influence of warmth, sunshine, or touch. The sensitive leaves may begin their movement at the slightest vibrations such as music.
The movement of the terminal leaflet by means of its sub-petiole or pulvinus is quite as rapid, or even more so, than that of the main petiole, and has much greater amplitude.
The moving object is recorded by a video camera, digitized by a frame grabber of a computer and the images stored and displayed on the monitor screen.
Attractive waxy green leaves, small purple flowers. Requires warm conditions. Requires consistently moist soil; do not let dry out between waterings.
The plant contains small amounts of tryptamine alkaloids in leaf, stem, and root.The leaves of this plant are sometimes used to make tea.
Chronobiology is the subject of the scientific study of biological rhythms of circadian, lunar/tidal and circannual frequencies.
Charles Darwin once wrote in his book, The little leaflets never go to sleep, and this seems to me very odd... They are at their games of play as late as 11 o'clock at night and probably later.
Native habitat 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 chain of islands dotted remotely in the South Pacific