Tree



Trees are structures of wood and leaf blocks, created when a map chunk is generated or grown from a planted sapling. They are found in most biomes, and abound in forest-related biomes. Tree growth was added to Alpha in 0.0.14a and Creative in 0.28_01.

Structure
Their natural height varies widely, from a minimum of 5 blocks (4 wood and 1 leaf) up to 16 blocks (13 wood and 3 leaf). Rain forest biomes favour larger trees.

The tree canopy is composed of leaf blocks, and grows 1–3 blocks higher than the highest wood block. The canopy may begin as low as 1 block from the ground (for a tree with a 4-block trunk) up to 6 blocks from the ground (for the tallest trees). Tree canopies appear to be generated from roughly spherical clusters of leaves about 5–7 blocks across, centered on sections of trunk or branches. Leaves must be supported by adjacent trunk or leaf blocks, or will wither and disappear.

Any normal tree with a trunk height of at least 4 has a chance to grow branches (wood blocks connected horizontally, vertically or diagonally to the trunk or other branches). Most of the time, a single tree will have between one and six branches, and each branch will have between one and six wood blocks. But in reality, no limit has been found, and the largest seen tree provided 52 wood. But this is very unlikely to happen naturally since most branches are about 3 blocks long. Branches support a much larger canopy than a tree with a single trunk. Birch and Pine trees cannot grow branches. Very rarely, "bush trees" or oak trees with leaves covering the entire trunk can be found (first found in late Alpha).

Sapling growth


Trees can be grown from saplings, which have a 1/16 chance of dropping from leaf blocks when they are destroyed or decay. Some players harvest wood from high-efficiency tree farms.

As of Beta 1.5, saplings now occur in three separate varieties corresponding to oak, birch, pine trees.

The sapling must be planted on a dirt or grass block. The sapling must have at least 4 blocks of space above it, and a light level of at least 9 in the block directly above the sapling (making the light in the sapling block at least 8, depending on torch placement). A sapling will uproot with light level 7 or less in the sapling block itself unless it has an unobscured zenith (except by glass or other fully transparent materials). All trees in a large radius around the player make attempts to grow at random intervals. For any given tree this can work out to about 3 attempts per minute, but a tree will usually not grow until nearly 30 minutes have elapsed since planting. When the tree attempts to grow it first checks that it has enough light, then chooses either to spawn as a Large Tree or a Small Tree. Large Trees require 4-14 blocks of open space directly above the sapling to grow (Air or Leaves only) but can otherwise be completely enclosed on all sides (which allows for the phenomenon of 'Tree Tubes'). Small Trees require no horizontal clearance at the base, 1 block around the main trunk, 2 blocks from the top of the trunk up to the ceiling and 6-8 blocks of vertical clearance (Thus a Small Tree can grow in a 1 deep hole, but not a 2 deep hole). Now that the tree has passed a light check and chosen a type of being either Large or Small, it checks if there is space to grow into what it has already (randomly) chosen to become. If it encounters an obstruction during this check, it fails to grow and must wait for the next pass before it can attempt to grow again. This means that a tree in an open field with enough light will grow quite quickly (usually right around the 30 minute mark), but a tree in a tree farm that stunts its size may make several attempts before finally growing. Bone Meal forces for the tree to grow if right clicked as long as all of the normal checks are in place (i.e. light, space, dirt, etc.).

Growth of oak trees

 * Growing oak trees are not blocked by leaf blocks.
 * Leaves of small trees (but not large ones) will destroy fences, glass, paintings, stairs, pistons, torches, and doors due to a mismatch between the tree's actual and test forms.
 * If there is a ceiling above a sapling, this will limit the maximum height of the tree that can grow from that sapling.
 * A large tree form exists with a single leaf block layer above the minimal 4-block trunk, allowing a tree to rarely grow in a vertical space with a height of only 5, but otherwise the maximum trunk height is 2 less than the vertical space, making the practical minimum height 6.
 * Saplings will grow normally in The End, although it must be planted in dirt transported from the normal world.
 * If you are standing on a sapling when it turns into a tree you will be trapped inside and begin to suffocate. You can escape by digging.
 * Bone Meal does not guarantee a tree will grow, but forces it to attempt to grow. The tree must pass all normal checks, including available space and light level, before it grows.
 * While tree trunks will not grow through solid blocks, the branches of large trees may grow through (replace) any blocks that are not directly above the trunk, including chests.

Growth of birch and pine trees
Birch and pine trees never grow branches, always having only a straight trunk. Birch trees always have leaves at least 2 blocks above the ground, whereas oak trees may be as low as 1 (at least when in forest biomes).

Birch and pine seem to require a 5×5×(height of tree) volume, starting at one meter above the base of the sapling, that is completely empty of anything but leaves of the same type; birch trees will not grow if this space is obstructed by oak or pine leaves (or vice versa), or other blocks (including torches). This behavior is different from oak trees, which will grow regardless of obstructions (usually not growing into the obstructed area).

Birch trees may grow faster than oak trees. A Birch tree has been seen growing from sapling to fully grown tree in under 1 day. It looks like they skip the 30 second delay entirely; in very rare cases they even grow within one minute. This has been reported for SSP and SMP.

Types/Biomes
With the Beta 1.2 update two new tree types were added.

So far the tree types include regular trees (oak), birch trees, and pine trees. Birch and pine trees are fairly uncommon compared to regular trees. Birch trees stand out due to their white colored bark, and pine trees have blue tinted leaves that usually grow in more than one row on a tree. Pines normally grow in snow biomes however they can grow in other biomes. If planted in a biome other than snow, pine trees will take longer to grow than if they were in a snow biome. Pine/birch/spruce/fir(what is the official name for these two conifer trees?) trees can have a conifer-like triangular formation of leaves or a long trunk with the regular foliage. Both tree types behave in the same way regular trees do, with saplings and wood blocks, and leaves. Different types of wood blocks cannot be stacked together. More tree types may be added in the future.

In saves before the beta 1.2 update it is possible for a tree to be generated with different colored leaves due to biomes intersecting over the tree.

Uses
Tree harvesting is an essential first step for any player in Survival mode. The wooden blocks can be harvested for wood, without requiring tools (although an axe quickens harvesting). Each wood block can be crafted into wooden planks and sticks, which are used for crafting tools.

Wood can also be smelted into charcoal, an equivalent of coal.

When leaves are harvested, or decay naturally, there is a chance they will drop a sapling, which can be planted to grow a new tree. Destroying leaves does not require a tool; however, a sword destroys leaves negligibly faster, but this quickly degrades the sword. Using a hoe to destroy a leaf block will not degrade its durability, but does not destroy faster than your hands. Since Beta 1.7, Shears have been added to harvest leaf blocks quickly, and will drop a usable leaf block for the player to pick up.

History
Birch and pine trees were introduced in Beta 1.2. Since the 1.2 update, trees in pre-1.2 levels will have leaves of different colors and even pine needles. In saves before the beta 1.2 update it is possible for a tree to be generated with different colored leaves due to biomes intersecting over the tree. In the fourth pre-release of update 1.9 (and possibly earlier) trees can sometimes be found growing on blocks of sand. This has been observed in swamp biomes.
 * Post-Beta 1.5 regular-type saplings (i.e. not Birch or Pine) will not stack with pre-Beta 1.5 regular saplings.

Trivia

 * Big trees have a higher chance of appearing in the rain forest biome.
 * Trees will only grow if they are planted on a chunk of the map that is loaded into memory. If you plant saplings and then explore another more distant area of your world for a few Minecraft days, they will still be saplings when you return.
 * Before beta, trees could destroy glass if their growth would occupy the same space.
 * It seems with the addition of different types of lakes above ground, you may have floating trees. This happens since the tree is spawned when the chunk loads first. Then, the lake is spawned afterward. This leaves the tree floating above the lake.
 * If a sapling is surrounded by a 2 block tall tube it guarantees that it will, eventually, grow into a big tree. The tube forces the small tree growth to always fail each attempt. However, this takes far longer to produce a mature tree, due to the low chance that a sapling will try to grow into a big tree.
 * If a sapling is surrounded by stone on all sides 4 blocks from the ground, the sapling will be 4 blocks taller than it would otherwise. This can be repeated with rings or giant vertical tunnels though rings every 4 blocks. Tunnels are easiest underground because you can tunnel all the way to daylight (so you won't need torches) while rings use fewer blocks above ground. This is because the sapling thinks that the stone is the ground.
 * An already spawned tree will not grow further wood or leaves.
 * Tree glitch can be used to find mine shafts, strongholds and caves. Dig 1 block deep into the ground, plant a tree in the hole and use bone meal while standing 1 block next to it.  Occasionally you will be inside the leaves of the tree and be able to see through the ground.
 * There may be a third tree height that grows 17 blocks tall, instead of the previous 14. This is not yet confirmed. The middle tree is an example of one. Note that these are not birch trees. Bunch_of_birch_trees.png


 * When a leaf block is placed in the Nether, it has the same colour as if it were placed in a dryer biomes.
 * Two regular saplings planted near each other have a chance to grow above their normal height limit of 14. (Example: 16 tall with 57 wood)

Gallery
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