Scotland has the thistle, England a rose, Ireland the shamrock. Wales? The Welsh have two national emblems, not counting the blood-red dragon - the leek and the daffodil. The daffodil is a relatively new addendum but the leek has been around for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

The origins of the leek as a symbol or an emblem of Wales and all things Welsh are now lost in time but it is highly likely that they go back to the days of the druids, the priests and holy men who controlled society in the centuries before the Romans came to Britain.

In those pagan times people worshipped trees, flowers and plants and saw in them magical properties. The leek was revered as something that could not only help cure colds and alleviate the pains of childbirth, it could also be used to keep away evil spirits and to foretell the future.

One common belief was that a young girl who put leeks beneath her pillow at night would see the face of her future husband in her dreams. The smell would surely be guaranteed to give her bad dreams but it was a commonly held belief. And not only that - leeks tasted very good in cawl.

There is a legend that says King Cadwaladr of Gwynedd once ordered his men to put leeks on their helmets to identify themselves in a battle against the Saxons - which, apparently, took place in a field full of leeks. But as the same story is also credited to St David it is highly likely that this tale is just an interesting and attractive story that probably came from the flowing pen of the writer Michael Drayton.

We do know that the soldiers of Edward I adopted the green and white colours of the leek for their uniform during the Hundred Years War. Almost certainly, the much feared Welsh archers were wearing the colours during the Battle of Crecy.

In 1537 members of the household guard presented leeks to Princess Mary, daughter of Henry VIII, on St David's Day and there are records of payments for leeks in the accounts books of several Tudor kings. These were to be worn by the guards on 1 March.

Shakespeare, of course, refers to the wearing of leeks in his play Henry V. The young King tells the Welsh warrior Fluellen that he is wearing a leek because "I am Welsh, good countryman."

By the 17th and 18th centuries it was common practice for the king and members of his court to wear leeks on St David's Day. The smell from these pungent vegetables (from the same family as onions and garlic) must have been horrible but since people, of both high and low rank, did not wash very much in those days it did not cause undue comment.