[sci.bio] 4- and 5- leaved clovers

bob@bio73.unsw.oz (Robert Stanley Vickery) (10/04/87)

lorien pratt wrote " within the space of 30 seconds i found one
 4- and two 5-leaved clovers.  this got me to thinking about how
 once somebody told me that such mutations (?) were evidence of
 impurities in the environment, perhaps radiation."

lorien, did you check your identifications with a taxonomist
or look up a flora? there are many plants with leaves resembling
 clover ( genus trifolium). one species of oxalis looks pretty
much like a four-leafed clover.
mutations are usually much simpler than a change in number of parts.
.