Musical accompaniment: Ripple by The Grateful Dead
A glass negative of a shamrock near Grinnell, Iowa. The photographer was Cornelia Clark a botanical photographer around the turn of the century.
State Historical Society of Iowa, Des Moines
When you see a shamrock, you should trust your luck!
old spirituals 
A glass negative creates a different image of an object. This four-leaf clover almost appears to be a living organism, which in some ways it is. I think of the song, “I’m Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover,” a song that originated in the 1920s.
All shamrocks are clover, but not all clovers are shamrocks. A shamrock is a clover with 3 leaves, which is the norm. Occasionally, mother nature produces a shamrock with 4 leaves, ergo “a four-leaf clover.” The former has an association with St. Patrick and has religious lore associated with it, while the four-leaf clover is considered a symbol of luck because they are exceedingly rare. It is not uncommon for a four-leaf clover to be identified as a shamrock.
Clovers are usually green but they can be purple, and some even white. I found a purple clover while looking for a four-leaf clover decades ago. The Irish want the world to believe shamrocks only grow in Ireland. The prominence of the plant throughout the world disproves that myth. The shamrock is found throughout the campus of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN, the home of “The Fighting Irish” football team.
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I know that song! “I’m looking over a four leaf clover that I’ve overlooked before…” 🎶
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That’s the song. Anyone who grew up in the Philadelphia area and watched a “Mummers Parade” knows that song. Every band marching down the street plays, “I’m Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover.”
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I found a four leaf clover in my yard in Missouri when I was young. I pressed it and kept it for many years. I imagine clover is all over the midwest.
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