Four-leaf clovers are supposedly rare. The standard three leaves represent faith, hope and love. The fourth means luck.
The lore surrounding four-leaf clovers, or shamrocks, is ancient. It likely predates Celtic culture. Ancient recorded stories suggest that a mythical Eve brought a four-leaf clover with her when she left the Garden of Eden. Not much for coverage — but people do a lot of things for the luck of it.
I’ve yet to find statistics on the real probability of finding a four-leaf clover. Conventional wisdom says you’ll find one in every 10,000 clovers. Scientists have of course studied the anomalous four-leaf variety in terms of its genetic mutation and origin but have not spent much time investigating their frequency. I’ve hunted since I was a kid and I’ve never found one. But according to this video, maybe I’ve been looking in all the wrong places. There’s actually a logical way to find one, claims this video producer. Check it out.
Other varietals include five- and even six-leaf clovers. These are well documented. Japanese researchers in May 2009 discovered a 56-leaf clover. A genetic or proteomic mutation is most certainly involved — but the mystery remains.
Have you ever found a four-leaf clover? Take a pic and send it along. Or Photoshop one, as our senior contributor Jonathan Hoffberg did, below. The original was four white coffee cups and a knife. You have, oh, about 24 hours.
Photo Courtesy: Jonathan Hoffberg for aNewDomain.net
