​The difference between Oxalis and Clover

Clover means happiness and blessing. Many people believe that if you find a four-leaf clover among shamrocks, it means that lucky things will happen to that person. Shamrock is the national flower of Ireland. The number of clovers represents cherishing health and honor. In fact, clover is not a specific plant. It is a general term for plants with three leaves. The leaves of Oxalis are also divided into three leaflets and are inverted heart shape. So what is the difference between clover and Oxalis?

1. There is no consensus on the exact plant species of the "true" clover. John Gerard defined clover in his 1597 herbal as Trifolium pratense or Trifolium pratense flore albo. He described the plant in English as "three-leaf clover" or "Medow Trefoile". In his 1726 treatise "Synopsis Stirpium Hibernicarum" on the Native Plants of Ireland, Irish botanist Caleb Threlkeld identified Trifolium rudbeckia as a clover, calling it Trifolium leucoderma.

2. In his 1737 work "Botany", botanist Carl von Linnaeus identified red clover as clover and mentioned it in Latin, writing a very interesting passage: "These small grasses with purple flowers are called clovers by the Irish, who believe that eating its leaves can gain agility and flexibility" (Hiberni suo Chambroch, quod est Trifolium pratense purpureum, aluntur, celeres & promtissimi roburis). Based on Linnaeus's information about shamrocks, writers of the Elizabethan period such as Edmund Spencer, in his book A View of the Present State of Ireland, described his observations of war-torn Munster, which included comments on shamrocks, saying that shamrocks were food for the Irish, especially in times of hardship and hunger. Here clover is described as a food because in the post-war famine, starving people ate the plant for nutrition as a last resort to survive.

3. The exact botanical identity of the shamrock became more confusing due to the research of London botanist James Ebenezer Bicheno. In his 1830 paper he claimed that the true clover was Oxalis acetosella or Oxalis corniculata . Bicheno believes that shamrock is not a native plant to Ireland and was only introduced to Ireland in the mid-seventeenth century. He agrees with the Irish tradition of eating shamrock. Bicheno believes that this is consistent with the plant nature of Oxalis, and only Oxalis is often used as a green plant to flavor food. Bicheno's contention was not generally accepted, however, as evidence supporting that this was a species of clover. [2][3]

A more scientific approach was taken by British botanists James Britten and Robert Holland, who cited their 1878 Dictionary of English Plant Names, which showed that shamrock was the blunt-leaved clover most commonly found in Covent Garden (a vegetable and flower market in central London), which was the shamrock on St. Patrick's Day, and that at least 13 cities in Ireland recognized the plant as shamrock.