Happy St. Patrick's Day!

An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold onto one blade of grass to keep from falling off the earth.
~ Irish Saying
In honor of St. Patrick and my Irish roots (that’s right, I’m really Irish), let’s talk about the most famous plant associated with this drunken holiday: the four-leaf clover.

The shamrock (specifically the White Clover, Trifolium repens) is a national symbol for Ireland. It is a small plant that is native to Europe, but can now be found across the northern hemisphere. Clover is commonly grown as a delicious option for grazing animals because of its high protein content and its ability to grow in such a wide range of conditions. If you’re into organic farming this is a great plant to grow because of its ability to fix nitrogen and naturally prevent soil leaching.

Clovers have been symbolic to the people of Ireland since the ancient Celtic tribes. The druids (Celtic priests) revered the plant because of its three leaves and their beliefs around the power of the number three. When St. Patrick came to Ireland, it is believed that he used the shamrock to explain the holy trinity. Like a shamrock, God is comprised of the holy trinity (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit); three things that come together as one and come from the same stem. Today the shamrock is seen more as a good luck symbol rather than for its religious affiliations. Three-leaf shamrocks are great and all, but the money is in the four-leaf variety.

Four-leaf clovers are associated with good luck almost globally. The Druids were the first to begin the association with luck (three is lucky so four must be luckier). They used it to help keep away evil spirits. The Christian church tied luck to the four-leaf clover by saying that Eve carried one with her as she was expelled from the Garden of Eden. Irish people have given each of the four leaves a meaning: the first leaf represents hope, the second represents faith, the third represents love and the forth represents luck.

In actuality these lucky symbols are just abnormal plants. The scientific community is still out on what exactly causes a shamrock to turn into a four-leaf clover. It could be caused from a very rare recessive genetic mutation. Being recessive means that if a four-leaf clover mates with any other clover other than another four-leaf version, its offspring will be the normal three-leaf variety. The mutation may be caused during plant formation and may even be caused by environmental factors. Several genes are responsible for leaf formation (we know this based on studies of leaf formation in similar plants) and more than one influence is likely. It may be a combination of all of these explanations. Whatever it is, it keeps these clovers at a ratio of 1 four-leaf clover for every 10,000 three-leaf clovers. Good luck finding one.

I say don’t bother and just have another beer.