Thousands of people (wear) a shamrock on St Patrick's Day but how many know their trifolium repens from their oxalis acetosella? BBC News Online unearthed the truth rooted behind the myth.
(BBC News - 17th March 2004)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3519116.stm
* This is a fascinating article by the way, and well worth reading if you have Irish colleagues or friends
Did you know?
sham-rock noun
Any of several plants, such as a clover or wood sorrel, having compound leaves with three small leaflets, considered the national emblem of Ireland.
Irish Gaelic seamróg, diminutive of seamar, clover, from Middle Irish semar
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
And for all you passionate botanists, here's what Wordnet has to say:
sham-rock
1: creeping European clover having white to pink flowers and bright green leaves; naturalized in United States; widely grown for forage [syn: white clover, dutch clover, Trifolium repens] 2: Eurasian plant with heart-shaped trifoliate leaves and white pink- or purple-veined flowers [syn: common wood sorrel, cuckoo bread, Oxalis acetosella] 3: clover native to Ireland with yellowish flowers; often considered the true or original shamrock [syn: hop clover, lesser yellow trefoil, Trifolium dubium]