Mimosa Pudica Flower

This is the flowers of the Mimosa Pudica plant. In Malay, we call it pokok semalu (meaning shy plant). Pudica in Latin means "shy, bashful or shrinking". This plant is also called Sensitive Plant and the touch-me-not. It is because when you touch the leaves they will close up (fold inward and droop when touched or shaken, re-opening later.) The leaves also close up in the evening and open again in the morning.

This plant is considered a pest in Malaysian gardens. They grow wild, on any grassy area, usually on a field, especially in Malaysian school fields. As they grow on the ground and creeping, they usually got trampled and stepped on by the kids.  

Here in Malaysia, the plant is akin to grass, i.e. nobody bothered about them at all except for curious kids. We are so used to this plant growing everywhere. They are tiny and without their flowers, they blend in with the grass.

I love the flowers and I love to bring my son to a field and let him find this plant and let him touch all of the leaves. Its a fun game and educational too! If you blow the tiny flowers, all the tiny tiny hairs that you see above will fly away and float in the air. Yup, another fun game to play with your kid.

I saw this very very tiny insect, much much smaller than a mosquito hopping and jumping about the mimosa leaves from one branch to another and you can see all the foliage closing up, like a dance. For me, it was a beautiful and memorable sight to see :-) 

Among the mimosa leaves as you can see above I found a very tiny flower. If you look closely you can see that its like an orchid, with its sepals and petals. Really interesting huh.