the plants name is called “makahiya” and hiya in tagalog means “shy”.

whenever you touch the plants leaves, they immediately fold up together looking as if its really shy hence the name.

I want one. It has the best names:

The species is known by numerous common names including:

• sensitive plant
• humble plant
• shameful plant
• sleeping grass
• touch-me-not
• Ant-Plant

Other non-English common names include

• morí-viví or moriviví (Dominican Republic and other Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands, roughly translating to “I died, I lived”)
• Dormilona (Costa Rica, roughly translating to “sleepyhead”)
• Makahiya (Philippines, with maka- meaning “quite” or “tendency to be”, and -hiya meaning “shy”, or “shyness”)
• Mateloi (Tonga, “false death”)
• Chhui-Mui (Urdu, “that which dies upon touch”)
• Lojjaboti (Bengali, “the shy virgin”) 
• Putri Malu (Indonesia, “Shy Princess”)
• Thottavaadi (Malayalam, “wilts by touch”)
• LazaLu (Marathi, “shy”)
• Thotta-siningi (Tamil, “acts when touched”) 
• Muttidare Muni (Kannada, “angered by touch”)
• Pokok Semalu (Malaysian, “shy plant”) 
• Hti Ka Yoan (Burmese [Myanmar], “crumbles when touched”)