The four leaf clover is constantly used as a symbol of St. Patrick's Day and Ireland in general, rather than the actual Irish national symbol of the shamrock.

Shamrock: The most common symbol of the Irish is the three-leaf clover that St. Patrick used to explain the Holy Trinity when teaching the Irish about Christianity.

The New York Times doesn't know the shamrock is the symbol of Ireland Somehow, though, time and again, there is a failure to understand that the shamrock is not a four-leaf cover.

While the chance of finding one is about 1 in 10,000, you are more likely to find multiple four-leaf clovers in the same area, since the gene for a fourth leaf is inheritable.

1. A four-leaf clover is a mutation of a shamrock, and can represent faith, hope, love and luck. 2. Alternately, the four leaves stand for Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and God’s Grace. 3.

A four-leaf clover, extremely rare to find, is associated with St. Patrick’s Day. It turns out you’re more likely to get in a car accident that day than find one.

Yet Celtic’s first crest was not the four-leaf clover, but a Celtic (that hard “K” again) cross set on a red oval background. Brian Wilson, in his book Celtic: A History With Honour, says ...

It wouldn't be St. Patrick's Day without a deluge of little green men in striped tights, pots of gold, and four-leaf clovers. But what's the story behind all these eclectic symbols?