Shamrock

[6] The botanist Carl Linnaeus in his 1737 work Flora Lapponica identifies the shamrock as Trifolium pratense, mentioning it by name as Chambroch, with the following curious remark: "Hiberni suo Chambroch, quod est Trifolium pratense purpureum, aluntur, celeres & promtissimi roburis" ('The Irish call it shamrock, which is purple field clover, and which they eat to make them speedy and of nimble strength').

[10] Bichino falsely claimed that clover was not a native Irish plant and had only been introduced into Ireland in the middle of the 17th century, and based his argument on the same comments by Elizabethan authors that shamrock had been eaten.

A more scientific approach was taken by English botanists James Britten and Robert Holland, who stated in their Dictionary of English Plant Names published in 1878, that their investigations had revealed that Trifolium dubium was the species sold most frequently in Covent Garden as shamrock on St. Patrick's Day, and that it was worn in at least 13 counties in Ireland.

Both surveys involved asking people from all across Ireland to send in examples of shamrock, which were then planted and allowed to flower, so that their botanical species could be identified.

[15] Similarly, another story tells of how St. Brigid decided to stay in County Kildare when she saw the delightful plain covered in clover blossom (scoth-shemrach).

The English Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser, writing soon after in 1596, described his observations of war-torn Munster after the Desmond Rebellion in his work A View of the Present State of Ireland.

Here shamrock is described as a food eaten as a last resort by starving people desperate for any nourishment during a post-war famine: Anatomies of death, they spake like ghosts, crying out of theire graves; they did eat of the carrions .... and if they found a plott of water cresses or shamrockes theyr they flocked as to a feast for the time, yett not able long to contynewe therewithall.

[19]The idea that the Irish ate shamrock is repeated in the writing of Fynes Moryson, one-time secretary to the Lord Deputy of Ireland.

Moryson claims that the Irish "willingly eat the herbe Schamrock being of a sharpe taste which as they run and are chased to and fro they snatch like beasts out of the ditches."

[21] Later, a 1630 work entitled Sir Gregory Nonsence by the poet John Taylor contains the lines: "Whilste all the Hibernian Kernes in multitudes, /Did feast with shamerags steeved in Usquebagh.

"[22] Traditionally, shamrock is said to have been used by Saint Patrick to illustrate the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity when Christianising Ireland in the 5th century.

These appear to show a figure of St Patrick preaching to a crowd while holding a shamrock,[23] presumably to explain the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

In pagan Ireland, three was a significant number and the Irish had many triple deities, which could have aided St Patrick in his evangelisation efforts.

However, Jack Santino speculates that "The shamrock was probably associated with the earth and assumed by the druids to be symbolic of the regenerative powers of nature ...

Dineley writes:The 17th day of March yeerly is St Patricks, an immoveable feast, when ye Irish of all stations and condicions were crosses in their hatts, some of pinns, some of green ribbon, and the vulgar superstitiously wear shamroges, 3 leav'd grass, which they likewise eat (they say) to cause a sweet breath.

[28]There is nothing in Dineley's account of the legend of St. Patrick using the shamrock to teach the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and this story does not appear in writing anywhere until a 1726 work by the botanist Caleb Threlkeld.

The Erin go bragh flag was used as their standard and was often depicted accompanied by shamrocks, and in 1799 a revolutionary journal entitled The Shamroc briefly appeared in which the aims of the rebellion were supported.

Since then, the shamrock has regularly appeared alongside the rose, thistle and (sometimes) leek for Wales in British coins such as the two shilling and crown, and in stamps.

Throughout the nineteenth century the popularity of the shamrock as a symbol of Ireland grew, and it was depicted in many illustrations on items such as book covers and St. Patrick's Day postcards.

[35] Another typical example of such a ballad appears in the works of Thomas Moore whose Oh the Shamrock embodies the Victorian spirit of sentimentality.

Where'er they pass, A triple grass Shoots up, with dew-drops streaming, As softly green As emeralds seen Through purest crystal gleaming.

[40][41] In the early 1980s, Ireland defended its right to use the shamrock as its national symbol in a German trademark case, which included high-level representation from Taoiseach Charles Haughey.

The coat of arms on the flag of the Royal Ulster Constabulary George Cross Foundation was cradled in a wreath of shamrock.