Chamaecrista nictitans (Wild sensitive plant)

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Chamaecrista nictitans (L.) Moench

Wild sensitive plant, wild sensitive-pea, sensitive partridge pea

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Rosidae	Roses, legumes, proteas, dogwoods, hydrangeas, mistletoes, euphorbias, grapes, many more
Order	Fabales	Legumes (pea and bean families)
Family	Fabaceae	Legume family (peas and beans)
Genus	Chamaecrista	From Greek chamae, “low growth,” and crista, “crested.”
Species	nictitans	Banded or bundled nerve fibers, in reference to the sensitivity of the leaflets

About plant names...

Sensitive plants are so named because they have a very unusual property: they fold up when touched. Well usually. Sometimes they don’t, and sometimes they respond slowly. It is native throughout most of the Americas. It prefers rocky open woods, upland slopes, ridges, prairies, grasslands, and open thickets.

Plants: 12-36" (30-91 cm) tall, often low to the ground, sometimes forming large mats.

Leaves: Even pinnate. Each leaf has 8-18 pairs of narrow leaflets about ⅝" (1.7 cm) long. Leaves fold when touched, or at night.

Flowers: Yellow, 5-petaled, 1" (2.5 cm) around, either separate or in clusters of 2-3. Petals are unequal in size and shape. There are 5-10 stamens. Flowers appear August through October.

Fruits: Shaped like pea pods, highly variable, ¾-1½" (2-4 cm) long. When they dry, they turn brown and explode, scattering seeds.

Online References:

Coastalplainplants.org

Southeastern Flora, the Southeastern U.S. Plant Identification Resource

Gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org

Plants.ces.ncsu.edu

The Missouri Botanical Garden