Weeds #28: white clover. Fiailí #28 seamair bhán

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Weeds #28: White Clover. Dissenting minister and Irish botanist, Caleb Threlkeld (1676-1728) laid the foundations for Irish botany in his Synopsis Stirpium Hibernicarum published in 1727 which he described as ‘the first Essay of this kind in the Kingdom of Ireland’. In this work, Threlkeld wrote of Trifolium repens as follows:

“This Plant is worn by the People in their Hats upon the Seventeenth day of March yearly (which is called St Patrick’s Day), it being a current Tradition that by this Three leafed Grass he emblematically set forth to them the Mystery of the Holy Trinity. However that be, when they wet their Seamar-oge, they often commit Excess in Liquor, which is not a right keeping of a Day to the Lord.”

The occasional four-leafed clover is said to bring the finder luck. (Source wildflowersofireland dot net)