By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated:
If a four-leaf clover brings good luck, then what on earth can one with seven leaves do?
Whatever the answer, perhaps Alastair Barnes - who has found one in a nature reserve - should be allowed to pick his family's Lottery numbers this week.
The nine-year-old found the rare plant close to his home in Coombe Bissett, near Salisbury in Wiltshire.
Lucky: Alistair Barnes with his seven-leaf clover
RELATED ARTICLES
- Previous
- 1
- Next
Share this article
Share
He discovered it while searching for four-leaf clovers - which are relatively common compared with his find - as he was walking his dog with his father Jonathan.
Alastair has placed the clover in a book to protect it.
He said: 'I was really hoping to find a four-leaf clover when I spotted one with seven leaves.
'I was amazed and I immediately shouted to my dad. He didn't believe me at first but then he came over and had a look for himself.
'I picked it and took it home. It was amazing to find something so rare - I was so happy.'
According to tradition, four-leaf clovers bring even more good fortune if they are found accidentally.
Each leaf represents a different quality: the first is for hope, the second is for faith, the third is for love - and the fourth is for luck.
A fifth leaf is said to stand for money, but no one has come up with a meaning for a sixth and seventh - yet.
A special four-leaf variety, and Alistair's rare seven-leaf clover
FACT FILE
- There are thought to be 10,000 three-leafed clovers for every four-leaved variety. Seven-leaved clovers are even rarer
- The current world record is 21 leaves, which were present on a clover discovered by Japanese farmer Shigeo Obarar in 2000
- In the Middle Ages a four-leaved clover was supposed to allow the holder to see and talk to fairies
- The world's most prolific clover collector, 77-year-old Edward Martin from Alaska claims to have amassed 160,000 four-leaved clovers.
- Clover is a member of the pea family and is high in protein. The plant is grown as cattle fodder
- It contains minute traces of morphine and has been used for centuries as a cough remedy
- In America, there are farms which specialise in growing thousands of four-leaved clovers which are sealed in plastic as charms
Most watched News videos
- Boris Johnson wants Gaza suffering to end but not with Hamas victory
- Italy's Mount Etna delights onlookers by puffing out smoke rings
- Terrifying moment robbers ransack jewellery store and make away
- Police speak after human remains found wrapped in plastic in Salford
- BBC News reports on Kate Middleton revealing her cancer diagnosis
- Moment 'Miss Mizzy' attacks people in Primark
- MP Luke Evans reveals he was 'cyber-flashed' with explicit images
- Moment Ukraine attacks Russia's Morozovsk airfield overnight
- The Twits criticised for insensitiveness towards disabled people
- Shocking moment armed thieves rob jewellery store in broad daylight
- Horrifying moment bouncer body slams man head-first into the floor
- Russian city in 'state of emergency' due to 'nuclear contamination'
{"status":"error","code":"499","payload":"Asset id not found: readcomments comments with assetId=1191586, assetTypeId=1"}
