By: Claire Ouyang

In Japan, gardener Yoshiharu Watanabe has set a new Guinness World Record for growing a clover with the highest number of leaves.

Traditionally, four-leaf clovers are believed to bring good luck, so could this achievement make Yoshiharu the luckiest person alive?

The previous record for the most leaves on a clover was set in 2009 by another Japanese man, Shigeo Obara of Hanamaki City, who grew a 56-leaf clover. Yoshiharu beat this record by growing a clover with 7 more leaves.

Yoshiharu mentioned that it was a lengthy process to count all the leaves on the exceptional clover. To ensure accuracy, he placed small labels on each leaf.

“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.

Yoshiharu has several clover patches dotted around his garden. When he went out and about and saw a clover with four or more leaves, he would bring it home and add it to his garden.

“Clover is a common plant found everywhere, so whenever I saw a four-leaved, five-leaved, or seven-leaved clover near paddy fields or parks, I took it back home,” Yoshiharu said.

Several years ago, he successfully cultivated a 20-leaf clover and was then motivated to attempt breaking the record. He allowed some of his clovers to pollinate naturally in the open air, while manually pollinating others.

“The plant is pretty strong and you don’t have to do anything to it, so I just left them, then they just prospered,” Yoshiharu explains.

The common clover typically has three leaves, but the less common four-leaf clover is often considered a symbol of luck. Studies vary in estimating the rarity of four-leaf clovers, with some suggesting 1 in 10,000 and others indicating 1 in 5,000. Finding a five-leaf clover is even luckier, with a 2017 survey suggesting the odds are just 1 in 24,000.