Desmodium
a genus of papilionaceous plants, sub-tribe Hedysareæ. The leaves have generally three leaflets; more rarely they are simple. The flowers are in racemes or panicles; the legumes jointed, each joint one-seeded. About 100 species are known, chiefly from South America or from India. D. gyrans, an Indian species, is the moving-plant, so called from the rotatory movement of the leaflets. It is sometimes cultivated in greenhouses. D. diffusum is a fodder-plant.