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The hunt for lucky charms could be about to get a whole lot easier. A gene that controls whether clover develops into the common variety with three leaves or the sought-after four-leaf type has been identified.

One four-leaved white clover () grows for every 10,000 three-leaved specimens; other rare varieties have unusual leaf colouring and patterns. How these different traits are inherited and how to select for them has long puzzled plant breeders and geneticists.

Previous work had suggested that the white clover’s ancestors had had four or more leaves before it evolved a gene that blocks this trait. Now a team from the and in Ardmore, Oklahoma, has found that four-leaf mutants develop with a variant of this gene that removes the block. They also identified genes for a red marking and a herringbone pattern.

The work could help plant breeders develop new ornamental varieties or breed “lucky” four-leaf clovers routinely.

Beef farmers often add white clover to grass pastures because it provides protein and fixes nitrogen. The researchers say that being able to select for plants with four leaves would provide more nutritious fodder.

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