Shamrock

Shamrock - This little plant is often grown in gardens through its associations, but as several totally different plants do duty for the Shamrock, the following note by Mr Hemsley of Kew may be of interest:—

"The plant commonly sold at Covent Garden as Shamrock is Trifolium minus, a small yellow-flowered Clover, and the same plant is now in use as such in Ireland in the counties of Antrim, Down, Meath, Fermanagh, Dublin, Wicklow, Carlow, Westmeath, Wexford, Limerick, Waterford, Cork, and Kerry. This plant, therefore, so far as present usage is concerned, has the greatest claim to the name of true Shamrock. Black Medick (Medicago lupulina), a very similar plant, is sometimes substituted for the Clover, from which it may be distinguished by the leaflets being rounded, not notched, at the top, and by the tiny pod being twisted. The common red Clover (Trifolium pratense), the white Clover (T. repens), and the Wood Sorrel are other plants more or less known and used as Shamrock. Occasionally one or the other of the plants named produces leaves having four leaflets, then called the four-leaved Shamrock."