quadrifoliolate

Updated: May 10, 2025

Better nourished individuals have produced more deviating leaves on one plant, partly owing to the larger number of stems and branches, and poor or average specimens have mostly been without any aberration or with only one or two abnormal leaves. No further improvement could be attained. Quadrifoliolate leaves were always rare, never attaining a number that would put its stamp on a whole bed.

Hugo de Vries - Species and Varieties, Their Origin by Mutation

They must often be so poor in anomalous leaves as to be overlooked, or to be taken for instances of the commonly occurring quadrifoliolate leaves and therefore as not indicating the true variety. In the beginning of my discussion I have asserted the existence of two different races of "four-leaved" clovers, a poor one and a rich one, and have insisted on a sharp distinction between them.

Hugo de Vries - Species and Varieties, Their Origin by Mutation