Four-leaf clover
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The four-leaf clover is an uncommon variation of the common, three-leafed, clover. According to tradition, such leaves bring luck to their finders, especially if found accidentally.[1]
Clovers can have more than four leaflets. The most leaflets ever recorded is eighteen.[2] It has been estimated that there are approximately 10,000 three-leaf clovers for every four-leaf clover. [3]
According to legend, each leaflet represents something: the first is for hope, the second is for faith, the third is for love, and the fourth is for luck.[1]
It is debated whether the fourth leaflet is caused genetically or environmentally. Its rarity suggests a possible recessive gene appearing at a low frequency. Alternatively, four-leaf clovers could be caused by somatic mutation or a developmental error of environmental causes. They could also be caused by the interaction of several genes that happen to segregate in the individual plant. It is possible all four explanations could apply to individual cases.
Certain companies produce "four-leaf clovers" using different means. Richard Mabey alleges, in Flora Britannica, that there are farms in the US which specialise in "four-leaf clovers", producing as many as 10,000 a day (to be sealed in plastic as "lucky charms") by feeding a secret, genetically-engineered ingredient to the plants to encourage the aberration. Mabey also states that children learn that a five-leafed clover is even luckier than a four leafed one.[4]
Other plants may be mistaken for, or misleadingly sold as, "four-leaf clovers"[citation needed]; for example, Oxalis tetraphylla, a species of wood sorrel with leaves resembling a four-leaf clover.
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[edit] Multi-leaved cultivars
There are some cultivars of white clover (Trifolium repens) which regularly produce more than three leaflets, including purple-leaved T. repens 'Purpurascens Quadrifolium' and green-leaved T. repens 'Quadrifolium'.[5] T. repens 'Good Luck' is an attractive cultivar with three, four, or five dark-centred leaflets. Recently, a four leaf clover has been found. [2]
[edit] See also
- 4-H emblem
- Rabbit's foot
- Horseshoe
- Cloverleaf interchange
- Shamrock
- Quatrefoil, a four-lobed structure.
- Cloverleaf or Quadrifoglio badges denote variants of Alfa Romeo cars where the name denotes the high-end of the range in comfort and engine size, but previously denoted Alfa Romeo racing cars in the pre-Second-World-War era.
- The four leaf clover also features on the badge of Celtic F.C.
- Estonian Centre Party, Centre Party (Finland), Centre Party (Norway) and Centre Party (Sweden) all use a four-leaf clover as their logotype.
[edit] External links
- Quattrofolium - Information on the clover genus and common species
- Pictures of 4 Leaf Clovers
[edit] References
- ^ Mabey, Richard, Flora Britannica, Sinclair-Stevenson, London, 1996, p225. ISBN 1-85619-377-2
- ^ http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records/natural_world/plant_world/clover_-_most_leaves.aspx
- ^ http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20050531.html
- ^ Mabey, Richard, Flora Britannica, p225 (citing Edward and Helene Wenis of Leonia, New Jersey, USA, writing in BSBI News, 56, 1990)
- ^ Lord, Tony (ed), RHS Plant Finder 2006–2007, (20th edition), Dorling Kindersley, London, 2006, p743. ISBN 1-4053-1455-9
