Wikipedia puts them at 1/29390 and 4 leafs at 1/5000. An extra leaf is the result of a genetic mutation of the plant. I’m assuming here, but I think it’s the same mutation that happened twice.
Hopefully someone actual plant knowledge will stop by to enlighten us!
Thanks, I looked it up, and regarding the 4 leaf clover it checks out. I just remember as a child I seemed to find mostly 4 leaf, but it was probably just childish imagination, 1 leaf kind of has 2 parts, so I probably in my childish imagination thought I found 4 leaf clovers all over the place.
The curse of having memories from before I was 4 years old.
I’ve seen cloverpatches in the wild with a variety that produces almost exclusively 4 leaved ones. They look a little different than your average clovers but you might have seen those! Either way childhood memories are fickle.
In my childhood we’d hunt 4 leaf clovers for days, only found a handful of them and never seen one with 5 leafs!
Clovers usually only have 3 leaves. The probability of clover naturally having 4 leaves is 1 in 5000. But it’s also a genetic thing, so they can be bred to have more leaves. The world record for most leaves on a clover was achieved through cross/selective breeding.
When I was in high school our math teacher took us out to the corner of the school property to count cars for a real life statistics lesson. The lawn was covered in clover and she offered extra credit to anyone who found a four-leaf clover. That’s the day she discovered four-leaf clovers aren’t that uncommon.
Are those rare? Some say finding a 4 leaf clover means luck, but AFAIK 4 leaf clover is the most common.
Wikipedia puts them at 1/29390 and 4 leafs at 1/5000. An extra leaf is the result of a genetic mutation of the plant. I’m assuming here, but I think it’s the same mutation that happened twice.
Hopefully someone actual plant knowledge will stop by to enlighten us!
Thanks, I looked it up, and regarding the 4 leaf clover it checks out. I just remember as a child I seemed to find mostly 4 leaf, but it was probably just childish imagination, 1 leaf kind of has 2 parts, so I probably in my childish imagination thought I found 4 leaf clovers all over the place.
The curse of having memories from before I was 4 years old.
I’ve seen cloverpatches in the wild with a variety that produces almost exclusively 4 leaved ones. They look a little different than your average clovers but you might have seen those! Either way childhood memories are fickle.
In my childhood we’d hunt 4 leaf clovers for days, only found a handful of them and never seen one with 5 leafs!
Good point, and I never found a 5 leaf either.
The leaves do sometimes split apart in the middle so you have to make sure they’re not 2 leaves and 2 halves.
Yes I think one leaf can look like 2, especially as a child as I was at the time.
Clovers usually only have 3 leaves. The probability of clover naturally having 4 leaves is 1 in 5000. But it’s also a genetic thing, so they can be bred to have more leaves. The world record for most leaves on a clover was achieved through cross/selective breeding.
What was the record? Don’t leave us hanging
From memory it’s something like 53 leaves
GWR registered one at 63 leafs! Absolutely insane. Here’s the picture on GWR
Biblically-accurate clover.
One-bite salad
Thanks, it seems it was just a childish memory.
When I was in high school our math teacher took us out to the corner of the school property to count cars for a real life statistics lesson. The lawn was covered in clover and she offered extra credit to anyone who found a four-leaf clover. That’s the day she discovered four-leaf clovers aren’t that uncommon.