By: Jeremy Sun

On July 2, 2023, Yoshiharu Watanabe, a farmer from Hanamaki City in Japan, set a world record by finding a clover with 63 leaves! This record, confirmed by the Guinness World Records, beat the previous record of 56 leaves. Watanabe found the clover on his family’s farm, showcasing the amazing possibilities of plant genetics and growing techniques.

Yoshiharu Watanabe has employed cross-pollination techniques to produce a clover variety with the highest possible number of leaves.

Starting with a clover patch in his garden, Yoshiharu would bring home any clover he found with four or more leaves during his outings. A few years ago, he successfully grew a 20-leaf clover, sparking his ambition to break the record. To achieve this, he let some clovers pollinate naturally outdoors and hand-pollinated others.

Yoshiharu mentioned that counting all the leaves on the record-breaking clover was a lengthy process. To ensure accuracy, he affixed tiny labels to each leaf. According to the CBBC article “Gardener has luckiest day ever with 63-leaf clover,” Yoshiharu announced, “Since these leaves are smaller than those on the standard clover you know, it was challenging to count them accurately. It took me over an hour to count this exceptional clover.”

Traditionally, four-leaf clovers are symbols of good luck. Could this 63-leaf clover discovery make him the luckiest man alive? According to The Weather Network, a four-leaf clover is rare, and difficult to find. A quick Google search said the odds are 1 in 10,000, but a 2017 study says chances are much better, with a 1 in 5,000 chance. Inside Science also reported 1 in 10,000 odds.

There aren’t enough statistics to estimate the chances of getting this 63-leaf clover, but it would likely be in the realm of millions or even billions to one against finding such a clover!