By: Wesley Zhao
There is a 0.02% chance of finding a 5 leaf clover is even rarer. But imagine the chances of finding a 63-leaf clover. On June, 20, 2024, a Japanese man named Yoshiharu Watanabe broke the record for most leaves on a clover with 63 leaves. Technically, this makes him the luckiest man alive.
To make sure he counted correctly, he put labels on each of each of the leaves. “Because the leaves are smaller than the standard clover that you know and love, it’s hard to count the number of leaves. When I counted this record-breaking clover, it took me over an hour,” he explained. (BBC,2024)
Yoshiharu didn’t just find a 63 leaf clover anywhere: he found it in his garden. When he was walking, if he saw a four leaf clover, he would add it to his garden. A few years ago, he was able to produce a 20 leaf clover which inspired him to attempt to break the record. He grew some of them himself but let the air pollinate the rest. He started cross-pollinating in 2012 and by 2020, he had a 49 leaf clover; by 2021, he almost reached 55, the previous world record.
In order to pollinate, plants produce pollen, which bees and other insects collect when they feed on flowers for nectar. The insects then carry the pollen to other plants, which fertilizes them and produces new seeds. Yoshiharu really put all his life and soul into this achievement and worked for a decade.