Shamrock

What it is

The shamrock is a clover with three leaflets, and it stands for Ireland. The English word comes from seamróg, an Irish word meaning young clover; seamair is clover, and the ending makes it small. Two species are usually meant: lesser clover, called seamair bhuí, and white clover, seamair bhán. Other three-leaved plants are sometimes given the name as well, among them black medick, red clover and wood sorrel. The plant was once used for medicine, and it was a common decoration in Victorian times.

Which clover is it

There is no agreement on which species is the true shamrock. John Gerard, in a herbal of 1597, called it red clover, and the Irish botanist Caleb Threlkeld agreed in 1726. Carl Linnaeus named red clover too in 1737, repeating an old report that the Irish ate it to gain speed and strength. Two surveys tried to settle the question. Nathaniel Colgan, a clerk in Dublin, ran the first in 1893; E. Charles Nelson, then director of the Irish National Botanic Gardens, ran the second in 1988. Both asked people across Ireland to send in their shamrocks, which were grown on until they flowered and could be identified. Results barely changed across the century.

Saint Patrick and the Trinity

Tradition says Saint Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to people in Ireland in the fifth century. The first sign of any link is an image, not a story: coins struck in 1675 and known as St Patrick's halfpennies show him preaching with a shamrock in his hand. Thomas Dineley, an English traveller, wrote in 1681 that people wore shamrocks on St Patrick's Day, but he said nothing about the Trinity. That teaching is found in writing only in 1726, in Caleb Threlkeld's book on Irish plants.

Wearing and drinking

On 17 March, St Patrick's Day, people in Ireland wear a shamrock. Thomas Dineley saw crosses in hats made of pins or green ribbon, and shamrocks worn as well. Caleb Threlkeld, writing later, noted the plant in hats on the same date and complained that the day usually ended in heavy drinking. His complaint points to a toast: St Patrick's Pot, otherwise called drowning the shamrock. After mass, men were released from the fasting rules of Lent, went to a tavern and drank to Patrick's memory. Two writers, around 1607 and 1630, seem to mention the custom.

Early English accounts

English readers first met the word in 1571, in Edmund Campion's book on Ireland, where shamrocks appear in a list of plants the Irish ate. Edmund Spenser repeated the claim in 1596, describing starving people in Munster after a rebellion who rushed to watercress or shamrocks as if to a feast. Fynes Moryson made a similar remark in 1617. Later scholars argued that these writers confused seamróg, young clover, with seamsóg, wood sorrel, a sour plant that really was eaten. Irish sources mention wood sorrel as food; they never mention clover.

How Shamrock is kept

A sprig of clover is picked or bought and worn on 17 March, in a hat or on a coat. Dineley's account from 1681 adds crosses made of pins or green ribbon. After mass on the day, men were excused from the Lenten fast, and the custom was to go to a tavern and drink a St Patrick's Pot. This toast is called drowning the shamrock, from dipping the small plant in whiskey before it is drunk.

When and where

It belongs to one fixed day, 17 March, St Patrick's Day. Thomas Dineley called it an immoveable feast, meaning the date never moves, unlike Easter. The wearing of the shamrock and the toasts that follow are tied to that one date each year.

The shamrock belongs to Ireland, where it is worn in at least thirteen counties, according to Britten and Holland's plant-name dictionary of 1878. Surveys in 1893 and 1988 gathered examples from all over the country. Sprigs were sold for the day at Covent Garden in London. The plant is not unique to Ireland: the species called shamrock also grow elsewhere in Europe.

What Shamrock means

For many people the shamrock means Ireland, and it carries the Christian meaning given to it in the story of Saint Patrick: three leaves, one plant, like three persons in one God. Jack Santino writes that whatever its older history as a folk symbol, its meaning today is Christian. Others are cautious. Patricia Monaghan says there is no evidence that clover or wood sorrel was sacred to the Celts, and Roger Homan suggests Patrick may have drawn on the visual idea of the triskele.

Days Shamrock is marked

Questions people ask about Shamrock

See also

Jack-o'-lanternA carved pumpkin lantern lit with a candle to brighten and protect Halloween nightsBrigid's crossA cross of woven rushes or straw, made for Saint Brigid's Day on the first of FebruarySweat lodgeA purification ceremony kept by Indigenous peoples of the Americas using a heated hut and steam.St John's EveBonfires, feasting and worship on the short night before John the Baptist's feast

Good reading and sources

• BBC NEWS | UKBBC, Article
• Article 6terWIPO, Article
• BBC NEWS | UKBBC, Article
• Article 6terWIPO, Article

• Shamrock on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.