The book's final chapter Vox Hiberniae (loosely, Voice of the Irish) sets about reviewing the shamrock's present position in modern life and whether or not the myth survives. The shamrock myth and all its fabrications are alive and well, Nelson assures the reader. He incorporates very believable and at times incomprehensible anecdotes of shamrock growing and wearing into his ending.
But the real gem for gardeners, florists and botanists in the entire book is Nelson's recounting of one of his taxonomic projects In a 1988 survey and research conducted at the National Botanic Gardens (Glasnevin, Dublin), shamrock samples from the wild across all Ireland were studied and compared with results from similar work carried out during the 19th century. The major thing that Nelson learned was that perceptions of the Irish shamrock as a plant have not changed much in over one hundred years.
The conclusion of both studies showed that the Irish shamrock may be one of any of these four common clovers or trefoils:
- Lesser trefoil (seamair bhui) - Trifolium dubium or T. minor
- White clover (seamair bhan) - Trifolium repens
- Black medick (dumheidic) - Medicago lupulina
- Red clover (seamair dhearg) - Trifolium pratense and in more recent times,
- Wood sorrel (seamsog) - Oxalis acetosella but its claim to be the true shamrock was rejected as long ago as 1830.
Nelson has this to say in his conclusions about the Irish Shamrock: Shamrock is a young clover. It does not matter where it is grown nor whence it originally came; it matters not whether the seed came from New Zealand or from County Cork. It does not even matter which species is worn for the tradition declares no botanical preference.
Shamrock is clover, nothing more, nothing less. That is what the word originally meant, what it still means, and what it will mean until the end of time.
So what does that leave folks like me looking for in pastures and lawns? White Dutch clover, the low growing kind, is also known in the seed business as Shamrock or Irish clover. It is definitely a strain of Trifolium repens.
This White Dutch clover, once a staple of lawns in the Northeast U.S. and parts of Canada, was the essence of my childhood summers - providing little bouquets, beestings and interesting patterns in the lawn. Although I did not realize it at the time, this familiar plant, introduced by early European colonists, has a lot going for it.
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