How to Find a Four-Leaf Clover

As March rolls around, many start to feel the anticipation and excitement Spring Break brings. While a week-long break to rejuvenate one’s energy is always welcome, it is also important to recognize the upcoming events in March—like St. Patrick’s Day. This holiday is characterized by dyeing Chicago’s River Green, children making Leprechaun traps, and of course the classic good luck charms—most prominently the four-leaf clover. Although many can agree four-leaf clovers embody the St. Patrick’s Day spirit, there’s much more to these unique clovers than what meets the eye.

Clovers are a part of the legume family which means they help regulate nitrogen levels in the soil. Since clovers enrich the soil through regulating nitrogen they serve as an excellent way to fertilize the soil causing many to replace their grass with clover groves. Fortunately, these groves are more environmentally friendly than grass lawns as they require less water, fertilizer, maintenance, and these groves are less prone to weeds than a grass lawn. As a whole, clovers provide an effective solution to the environmental consequences of the grass lawn, but there’s still many hidden elements about the individual clover. Interestingly, the structure of any clover contains only one leaf. This singular leaf is typically split into three sections giving the appearance of three leaves instead of one—meaning four-leaf clovers are actually an individual leaf that’s split into four parts. The driving factor that causes four-leaf clovers is a genetic mutation, most commonly found in the white clover species. However, these mutations don’t follow a consistent pattern so scientists haven’t been able to identify the exact reason for the formation of four-leaf clovers. While the reasoning behind the formation of four leaf-clovers hasn’t been identified, this mystery makes finding these clovers more rare as they can’t be grown in a lab. 

In addition to exploring four-leaf clovers in the environment, uncovering the history behind how these plants became good luck charms shouldn’t be ignored—especially with St. Patrick’s Day approaching. In fact, these clovers have been regarded as a symbol of good luck for centuries, dating back to ancient Egypt where priests would give newly wed couples four-leaf clovers to bless their marriage. Moving into the middle ages, children hoped that carrying four-leaf clovers would allow them to see fairies and witches to help protect them against evil spirits. Evidently, four-leaf clovers have consistently been associated with good fortune throughout history; however, the first literary record of these clovers as good luck charms was made by Sir John Melton in 1620, when he wrote, “if a man walking in the fields find any four-leaved grass, he shall in a small while after find some good thing.” So as the four-leaf clover was originally believed to protect those against evil fairies and witches, today the meaning behind these charms has shifted into representing a more general idea of good fortune that can be left up to interpretation of the four-leaf clover owner.

Although the inconsistencies behind the formation of four-leaf clovers leaves these plants unable to be grown in a lab—increasing the difficulty of finding these good luck charms, with the appropriate perspective, these setbacks can make the process of searching for four-leaf clovers more entertaining. For instance, if one were to successfully find a four-leaf clover every time they glance down at a cluster of clovers, then the next time they found a four-leaf clover their experience wouldn’t be as exciting because they’re used to finding them. Fortunately, four-leaf clovers are rare—for one four-leaf clover there are around 5,000 to 10,000 three-leaf clovers. While these numbers might seem intimidating, forming an organized strategy to search for four-leaf clovers can be helpful. After turning towards the internet and reading tips from many four-leaf clover enthusiasts, I’ve sorted through their advice and compiled a list of the strategies that appear to be most helpful:

• Look for four-leaf clovers during late March, April, and May as they are more common in springtime
• Search for patterns in the grass and try to identify if there is a break in those patterns 
• Try to avoid staying in one place for too long
• If you’re lucky enough to find a four-leaf clover search that area thoroughly as there could likely be another one nearby  

So with enough determination and an effective searching strategy the four-leaf clover search can be successful!