Thursday, December 7, 2006

Four Leaf Clover



Remember my yesterday post abt this "Good Luck" leaf ? Now I managed to find one picture of it and show it in here for you guys to see... I dunno why I still can't post up my photos of that necklace but nevermind I guess this is as much the same...

More about this leaf .....


The four-leaf clover is an uncommon variation of the common three-leaf clover. Traditionally it is a common activity for children to look for these and it is considered good luck to find one.

People who search for four-leafed clovers note that some patches of ground appear more likely to contain four-leafed examples and that this may be partly due to differing growing conditions such as pollution, soil composition, and other environmental factors. Clovers may have even more than four leaves. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the highest number of leaves found on a clover has been eighteen. It has been estimated that there are approximately 10,000 three-leaf clovers for every four-leaf clover.

According to legend, each leaf of the clover represents something. The first leaf is for hope, the second leaf is for faith, the third leaf is for love, and the fourth leaf, naturally, is for luck.

There is a debate as to whether the four-leaf clover is caused by genetic or environmental factors. The rarity of the four leaf clover suggests a possible recessive gene at a low frequency as the cause. Alternatively, four-leaf clovers could be caused by a somatic mutation or a developmental error of environmental causes. The condition could also be caused by the interaction of several genes that happen to segregate in the individual plant. It is possible that all four explanations could apply to individual cases.

There are companies that produce four-leaf clovers by increasing the ratio of occurrence by different means. Some other species are misleadingly sold as "four-leaf clovers", for example Oxalis tetraphylla, a species of wood sorrel, and Marsilea villosa, a Hawaiian fern with leaves resembling four-leaf clovers.

2 comments:

strawbearries said...

So far those I knew who gotten it has really been lucky.. Wonder if its really true hehe..

Kazzzzzzz said...

But if companies can mass produce 4-leaf clovers, then it means those commercialised ones do not really bring luck right?

If I'm not wrong, it has a legend of bringing good luck cos there was this lady who gave a 4-leaf clover instead of rabbit foot to her hubby and her husband was the only one who survived the battle. That's how it got it's reputation of bringing good luck..