So here we go...mistakes make us all the more human and like gummy bears all the more maleable and suitable to oral pleasure! I appologize for not chewing my gummy bear before I let my words fly out of my mouth. Now is the moment of truth about the 3 leaf clover vs. the 4 leaf clover!!!
Saint Pattie hit me over the head a couple of times before I got it right! There are at least two distinct plants from very distant families of plants that have triune leaves(three perfectly aranged leaves) atop a single upright stem. That would be Clover of the family Faboideae (Leguminosae) a very large family of plants commonly known as the Pea Family, Genus Trifolium and the second, Oxalis, from the Wood Sorrel family Oxalidaceae, genus Oxalis. Both species display quite an aray of color, texture, size and shape within this limited arrangement of a triangular shape. If I could place all of the miriad of plants I have seen on a good sized colage of living color would be quite impressive!! I have seen reds, chocolate, yellow, white, purple, pink, amythest colors in intricate designs upon the leaves. There are more and more clovers that are ariving in the horticultural trades that have varying sizes of leaves and colored designs. Trifolium repens cvs. make very good ground covers or additions to low maintenance lawns.
So some of you might want a "Four-leaf Clover...yes? And yes that IS possible! Other than the occaisional 4-leaves that Clovers may produce...there is one mystery plant that very few have ever heard of that produces a 4-leaf "clover" all of the time!!! I will present a few clues before I come to the ultimate truth about the 4-leaf clover!
1) Go back to the dinosaur days where the predominant plants included mosses, club mosses and.....F....!
2)These plants propagate by spore producing bodies on different locations of the leaf or stem.
If you guessed that this is some kind of a FERN...well you would be mostly right!
The real "4-leaf clover" is actually a member of the fern family, Filicae. The ferns that we are most familar with are of the order Filicales: Polypodiaceae family. The "4-leaf clover" belongs to the order Marsileales: Marsileaceae family, genus Marsilea. The center of development of this genus is Australia with smaller distributions in temperate lattitudes according to Helmut Muhlberg's "The Complete Guide to Water Plants" (translation from German 1982) There are many species that have the 4-leaf configuration. Most of them or perhaps all of them are adapted to a marsh or aquatic environment. They seem to fit into the above category for true clovers and oxalis in having a variety of leaf coloration and shapes that can be quite ornamental. One example is Marsilea quadrifolia which I grew in a pond situation that started out in shallow water. By mid-summer the plants had managed to creep along the bottom to a depth of 3-5 ft. the leaves that reached the surface were 3-4 in. across! This same plant in boggy conditions were only a little more than 1 in. across! It is good to note at this point that only plants that are grown in boggy conditions are capable of a spore producing body at the base of each petiole(leaf stem) This plant also produces attractive central markings on each "leaf" and a very glossy overlay.
Marsilea vestita, Hairy Cloverfern, is considered a native to our area along reservoirs and ponds at lower elevations. Here are a list of just a few species:
Marsilea quadrifolia
M. crenata
M. drummondi
M. hirsuta
M. minuta
M. natans
M. mutica
M. vestita
Maybe I can drummondi...I mean drum up some pics in a few minuta's or maybe more or vest-it-a become a mut-ica point! Can ya believe I wud'a 'vesti-ta lot of in'trest in crenata-ting somethin' hir-suta like this 4-leaf stuff...so I quad-re-fo-ya!!! Jus' like that...na-tan,s-econds a bit later!
Like I always do...just DREAM ON! When it happens it happens...more or less, I guess...?!
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