What is Four-leaf clover?

A four-leaf clover is a rare variant of the common clover.According to tradition, this shamrock brings good luck although it is unclear when or how the idea began."comfrey" is mentioned in 1640, saying only that it was kept in gardens because it was "good for children's or other people's purple." 

Happened

According to a 2017 survey of some 7 million clover plants by Lidia and Uli Sperling of the website Share the Luck, a four-leaf clover appears about one in 5,000. The same survey found that five-leaf clover occurs one in 24,400 and six-leaf clover occurs one in 312,500.Even so, the possibility has not deterred collectors who have set a record of 160,000 four-leaf clovers in their lifetime.On June 23, 2018, American Katie Borka's world record for picking four-leaf clover in one hour was 166.Clover can have more than four leaves.Five-leaf clover is less common in nature than four-leaf clover;however, they have also been successfully cultivated.Some clover collectors, especially in Ireland, consider five-leaf clover (also known as rose clover) as special prizes.The largest number of leaves found so far on a single clover stem (Trifolium repens L.) is 56, discovered on May 10, 2009 by Shigeo Obara, Hanamaki, Iwate Prefecture, Japan.

Debate over whether the fourth leaf is caused by genetics or the environment.Its relative rarity (1 in 5,000 clover plants) suggests that there may be a recessive gene that occurs at low frequency.Alternatively, four-leaf clover may be caused by somatic mutations or developmental errors of environmental origin.They may also arise from the interaction of several genes that happen to segregate in a single plant.It is possible that all four explanations apply to individual cases.This means that multiple clovers can be found within the same clover.

Researchers at the University of Georgia report the discovery of the gene that turns the common clover into the coveted four-leaf clover.Masked by the three-leaf gene and strongly influenced by environmental conditions, molecular markers can now detect the presence of the four-leaf gene, and breeders can use it.The July/August 2010 edition of Crop Science, published by the American Crop Science Association, reports the results of this study, which also maps two additional leaf traits in the white clover genome.Other leaf features, red spots and red midribs, a herringbone pattern running down the center of each leaflet in bold red, were mapped to nearby locations, solving a century-old problem that these leaves Whether the trait is controlled by one gene or two independent genes.White clover has many genes that affect leaf color and shape, and the three genes in the study are very rare.These properties are very attractive, especially if combined with others, and can turn clover into an ornamental plant for flower beds.US farms specializing in clover are reportedly producing as many as 10,000 plants per day (sealed in plastic as a "lucky charm") by introducing genetically engineered ingredients into the plants to promote distortion (with produces leaves with multiple leaflets.