It’s St. Patrick’s Day, and the Nature Canada team is pondering some of the more nature-oriented elements of the occasion. That means we’re fixing our gaze on the emblematic four-leaf clover. Here are a few facts you may not know about that difficult-to-find plant: 

There are more than 300 species of clovers worldwide

We only have three here in Canada: the red, white, and alsike clover. The species name comes from the colour of the clover’s flower, as opposed to the number of leaves.

The famous four-leaf clover is actually a mutation of the normal three-leaf white clover. If you’re wondering about the luckiest location for four-leaf clover foraging, your best bet is moist, temperate areas with plenty of fertile soil. 

The four-leaf clover is an allotetraploid

Yeah, we had to Google that, too. An allotetraploid is any species that has four sets of chromosomes—for context, humans and most other plant and animal species have two sets. 

If you look closely, the definition of an allotetraploid is actually in its name. “Tetra” means four and “ploid” means chromosome. According to Wired, the “allo” part comes from the fact that “each pair of the white clover’s chromosomes comes from a different species.”

A genetic anomaly

As much as pop culture has associated four-leaf clovers with leprechauns and superstition, there’s actually a clear scientific explanation for their origin. 

The short story is that the four-leaf clover once tried to split to become a number of separate species—in the end, it didn’t go through with the full genetic process and instead continued reproducing as a mutated white clover. It kept both sets of chromosomes, hence its four-leaf appearance. 

Every 1 in 10,000 clovers is four-leafed

Using that ratio of 1:10,000, Scientific American calculated the area of clover patch you’d need to search in order to find a four-leaf clover of your own. Their estimate found you would need to scour just 1.2 square metres to find a four-leaf clover. Are you up to the challenge?

Quarantine Cabin Fever? Learn how getting into nature can help

---

Nature Canada thanks the frontline medical workers for their efforts during this time. We follow the advice of the World Health Organization and Health Canada. Please visit these two websites for the latest information on how to protect you and your family from COVID-19.

Nature is also important to our health and well-being and we hope you’ll consider supporting our efforts to save nature. Thank you for caring!

Yours in nature, the Nature Canada team.