By Gina Gomez
Mar 16, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The St Patrick’s Day celebration which is likely to take place tomorrow, might be hit hard in Ireland this year as the country has been reeling under the onslaught of severe shortage of the three-leaved plant shamrock this year. The main reason which has contributed to the short supply of the shamrock is the widespread winter conditions that Ireland has witnessed this time.

Botanist Dr. Declan Doogue, who works with the Dublin based institute, Royal Irish Academy has revealed to a news source that ‘wearing of the green’ might just become a bit difficult this year with the unavailability of shamrocks across the country. The leading botanist further added that the scarcity of the plant was mainly owing to the fact that the growing season of shamrocks had been postponed due to the damage caused by the chilly weather conditions. At the same time, Dr. Declan Doogue also pointed out that modern farming techniques and the lack of hay meadows had posed a major threat to the plant’s natural territory, which eventually played a pivotal role in its shortage.

Meanwhile, the botanist emphasized that bogus plants which closely resembled the original shamrocks were being grown in ‘lush grasslands’ which was white clover, Trifolium repens. It has been revealed that this was probably the so-called shamrock that was being sold to people and would be worn by people on St Patrick’s Day in the wake of the scarcity of the three leaved plant. The shamrock holds a special significance on St Patrick’s Day celebration as legends claim that St. Patrick used the three leaved plant to explain the Holy Trinity to pre-Christian Irish people.