1. Any of several plants having leaves so arranged on the axis as to indicate the cardinal points of the compass
   "The compass plant was used by early settlers as a natural navigation aid";
   - compass flower
    
2. North American annual with red or rose-coloured flowers
   "compass plant dotted the grassland with its rosy blooms";
   - prairie bird's-foot trefoil, prairie lotus, prairie trefoil, Lotus americanus

Derived forms: compass plants

Type of: composite, composite plant, subshrub, suffrutex

Part of: aster family, Asteraceae, Compositae, family Asteraceae, family Compositae

Encyclopedia: Compass plant