Saints preserve us!  Thanks to a fairly strong winter by Irish standards, as well as some changes to traditional farming methods that have endangered its natural habitat, the actual shamrock (Trifolium dubium or lesser trefoil) used to mark St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland is facing a severe shortage.  That’s right; to get their shamrocks the people of Ireland may be turning to England or putting on fake shamrock lookalike plants.

Apparently, not all three-leafed green clover-looking plants are shamrocks.  Only the lesser trefoil is a true shamrock.  The other plants, Trifolium repens (white clover) and Medicago lupulina (black medic), are actually fake shamrocks, if you believe Dr. Declan Doogue, a botanist at the Royal Irish Academy.  Most people don’t know the difference just by looking at them which is which.

Apparently the white clover is the plant most likely to be misidentified as a shamrock due to the fact it grows everywhere.  That must be the plant infesting my backyard right now.  Fake shamrock or real clover, so long as I can get my Shamrock Shake I’ll be all right.

Tags: shamrocks, unusual plants, shamrock shortage, St. Patrick’s Day, fake shamrocks, Trifolium dubium, lesser trefoil, real shamrocks unavailable, Dr. Declan Doogue, Royal Irish Academy

I’ve never had a problem eating food from a gas station.  Just two weeks ago, I ate a couple of hot dogs purchased from a gas station.  They were delicious.  That’s not the first time I’ve eaten gas station food, and I doubt it will be the last.  There’s nothing like a fun food novelty. […]

Commissioner Roger Goodell gathered 32 NFL owners for one big question.  One of the league’s most wanderlust-stricken franchises is looking to move again.  The Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland Raiders, tired of gutting it out in a run-down stadium, were once again looking for greener pastures.  Only the Miami Dolphins refused to cooperate.  With a vote of 31-1, […]

In 2006, an injury to Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe opened the door for an undrafted free agent by the name of Tony Romo to take the helm of America’s Team and lead the Dallas Cowboys to an early playoff exit.  Bledsoe went from starter to afterthought in a season.  Now, the circle continues […]

For 89 years, Oscars has never had a major mistake.  The last few Oscars might have had a few flubs, but at least they never got the most important category of the night wrong.  Well, that’s now changed, all thanks to OG Bonnie and Clyde legends Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.  When Faye Dunaway called […]

Tom Brady has been wildly successful, if controversial.  He’s the first quarterback ever to win five Super Bowls and only the second player to do so after Charles Haley.  Unlike Haley, Brady won all his Super Bowls with the same team, the New England Patriots.  The only thing that seems to be able to stop […]

Ben Affleck, no matter what you might think of him, is a talented actor and director.  He’s got the goods, but he’s smart enough to know when he’s in over his head.  All along, since he took on the mantle of Batman, he’s had his eyes on writing, directing, and starring as the Caped Crusader. […]

In May, students for the for-profit American College of Education were running into some problems.  Their access to email accounts and course information was locked down by Google, who had disabled their accounts.  The reason why?  A fired IT worker for the American College of Education locked the school out of their Google cloud account. […]