The Four Leaf Clover Is A Universally Accepted Symbol Of Good Luck With Its Origin Ages Old

Real, genuine four-leaf clovers come from the White Clover plant, trifolium repens, considered to be the Original Shamrock. You may find others selling leaves as four-leaf clovers that are not genuine. These are actually Pepperwort or Water Clover (Marsilea Quadrifolia and Marsilea Polycarpa) or Oxalis (Oxalis deppei or Oxalis tetraphylla) plants that produce all four leaves. Another way of identifying a real four-leaf clover is that the fourth leaf is usually smaller than the other three leaves.

The four leaf clover is a universally accepted symbol of good luck with its origin ages old. According to legend, Eve carried a four leaf clover from the Garden of Eden.

"The clovers also occupied a position in the cultural life of early peoples. White clover (T. repens L.) in particular was held in high esteem by the early Celts of Wales as a charm against evil spirits." Clover Science and Technology". N.L. Taylor, 1985.

Druids held the 4 leaf clover in high esteem and considered them a sign of luck. In 1620, Sir John Melton wrote: "If a man walking in the fields find any four-leaved grass, he shall in a small while after find some good thing.

The mystique of the four leaf clover continues today, since finding a real four leaf clover is still a rare occurrence and omen of good luck. 4-leaf clovers are a mutation of the usually 3-leafed White Clover plant, Trifolium repens. One clover is actually one leaf of a larger plant, with 3 leaflets. Mutations can occur due to a low frequency recessive gene or environmental causes. Often the reason for mutation is differentiable from one clover to another. The mutation does not stop at the 4-leafed variety: 5-leafed clovers are not uncommon. However, the more leaflets, the harder they are to find (and the luckier they are): the record is an 18-leaf clover, and the highest I've ever seen is 10-leafed.

And yes, this might have to do with the fact that we were in the emergency room for over ten hours… Well… and the fact that they used my hands as a (several) pin cushion(s)… And, maybe, the fact that we had to stay in the hospital (again) for over 10 days because I had an unexplained fever… Oh… and the pneumonia that we didn't know I had…

Good thing I that I can open my own bottle of water again, with these old hands, it is kind of a bother to keep asking people to open up bottles of water when you are supposed to keep hydrated... (Thank You Mommy, Daddy, Hanneke, Jan Willem, Megan and of course my everything: Bastiaan!!).

It is also a good thing too that I am home. I like being home. Bastiaan and I have been throwing this idea around to rent a big camper and to go “see” places (you know, normally we would do this when we would be 70+), but plans have to be adjusted sometimes... I like to be home for now.

Through the use of previously published simple sequence repeat (SSR) marker maps, linkages between the mapped molecular markers and genes for three different morphological traits was identified. The red midrib and red fleck traits were found to be controlled by two closely linked dominant genes on linkage group (LG) B1. The trifoliolate trait is controlled by at least one gene on LG H1. The identification of molecular markers linked to loci affecting leaf morphology traits resolves conflicting hypotheses on the genetics of these complex traits and has potential for molecular breeding improvement of white clover.

Surely this represents a new avenue of research for biotechnology giants such as Monsanto and Syngenta. With a little work and sequencing directed breeding, perhaps we could have our fill of four-leaf clovers. But will they still bring us luck?