The Roots of Good Luck
Science and shamrocks
Like much of leprechaun lore, the shamrock may be a sham. At the very least, unromantic scientists contend, the mystical plant will have to compete in the rich fields of clover to find its true botanical roots.
Legend holds that Ireland's patron saint, St. Patrick, plucked a three-leaf clover as a symbol of the Holy Trinity. The much rarer four-leaf clovers later took hold in Irish folklore as tokens of luck. But even as shamrock sales soar in garden stores this week, the legendary plant continues to perplex botanists. At least six species of plant can claim to be the shamrock, says botanist Michael Vincent of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Some, like wood sorrel, aren't clover at all, although they do make better houseplants than the sun-greedy clovers they mimic.
The shamrock's elusive identity isn't surprising, since the clover group alone may include as many as 300 species, many still undiscovered. And while 99 percent of clovers have three leaves, finding a clover with four, five, six, or more leaves requires more patience than luck, Vincent says. He once found a clover with 21 leaves.
The shamrock and its kin may actually turn out to be a much more practical than magical harvest. Cattle eat it, bees use its nectar, and soil grows richer in its presence. Red clover tea may fight cancer and respiratory ills. Breeding projects currently underway could improve the plant and its economic value--even this side of the rainbow.
As far as luck goes, the search for that gene has yet to begin. Few outside the Emerald Isle, in fact, even have enough faith to look. "Do I believe it?" Vincent asks. "No, I'm a scientist."
This story appears in the March 19, 2001 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.