Grass Block

A Grass Block is a block that was introduced very early in the game. It uses 3 textures: a grey one for the top which is then tinted to the correct colour according to what biome the block is in, one borrowed from the dirt block for the bottom, and an edited dirt texture with grass on the top edge on all of the sides. When covered by snow the side texture is white. On natural maps, grass appears on topmost blocks of dirt with no fluids or opaque solid blocks above them.

In mining, grass blocks behave just like dirt - they drop dirt resources and are best dug with a shovel; however, they make a different sound when harvested and take slightly longer to dig up. This can be used to tell when the player is about to break the surface when tunneling upwards.

Growth
Grass blocks grow spontaneously only during map generation. Afterward, they can only spread from a nearby block. Grass blocks can spread to any immediately adjacent dirt blocks at the same height, including diagonally. It can also spread one level above and as much as three levels below. The grass blocks jumps directly from one block to the other and is not affected by gaps or other blocks being "in the way".

In order for a grass block to spread, it must have a light level of 9 or brighter directly above it. Additionally, the dirt block receiving grass must have a light level of at least 4 above it and must not be covered by a block that reduces light by 2 levels or more. This includes any opaque block, as well as lava, water, ice, and some non-opaque blocks that light can't pass through, like slabs and stairs. Grass blocks can grow under all other transparent blocks, like glass, fences, torches, or pistons.

Grass blocks spread at random intervals and have an equal chance of spreading to any suitable dirt blocks that are in range. Because grass can spread as much as 3 levels downward, it tends to spread down hills much faster that it spreads up them.

Death
A Grass Block will die and change to dirt after a random time if covered by an opaque block. It can also die if it is covered by water, ice, or any block that does not transmit light, and the light level above the grass block falls below 4. Some blocks, like stairs, are not opaque but still prevent light from passing through them, so placing these on top of grass blocks will kill it, but only in surrounding darkness. Transparent blocks will not kill grass.

The functionality of slabs has changed in Minecraft 1.0.0 and will no longer revert grass blocks beneath it to dirt allowing grass to spread from underneath.

For example, in direct sunlight, which is light level 15, grass will die with 4 or more water or ice blocks directly on top of it (assuming it isn't getting any extra light from the sides). In Moonlight, which is level 4, grass will die when covered by a single water or ice block.

Tilling a grass block with a hoe will convert it to a Farmland block, which can then revert to a dirt block from excessive jumping or time left unplanted, which can then return to grass.

Uses

 * Animals will occasionally spawn on grass blocks that have light level 9 or brighter in the space directly above. This is quite rare and requires that there be few other animals nearby. Most animals are instead created along with the terrain. See the spawn page for details.
 * Passive mobs tend to wander towards grass blocks. They also wander towards light, but they ignore light over grass blocks and prefer them to any light levels below 10.
 * Bone Meal used on Grass Blocks will grow tall Grass and Flowers.
 * Grass blocks can be used to make lawns, gardens or as a shade of green in Pixel Art that is on the ground.
 * A growing or dying grass block can be detected by a BUD. Therefore, growth and death conditions can be used to create a redstone light sensor.

History
Grass block was the second block in Minecraft, after Cobblestone. When first introduced, Grass block had its top side texture on all sides. Later on, the side textures showed a signature 'tuft' of Grass overlaying Dirt. When Biomes were added in the Halloween Update the color of the top of the Grass block corresponded to whatever Biome it was in. Attempting to place grass blocks by means of hacking one's inventory in Classic Creative Multiplayer will cause the server to automatically kick the player. Due to Creative mode's lack of dynamic lighting, grass that is in shadow will eventually die and change to dirt. Grass in one's inventory used to have a green colour on all sides of the block.

Before the Beta 1.6 update, seeds could be harvested from grass blocks with a hoe. Seeds can now be harvested by destroying tall grass.

In Beta 1.9 pre5, the top of Grass Block's and Snowy Grass block's textures were slightly changed.

Trivia

 * Grass blocks and dirt blocks changing between each other is a very common cause of chunk updates.
 * Grass blocks were one of the first seen blocks made in Minecraft, seen here. It had the top most face on all sides, resulting in "grass cubes".
 * A grass block has become the favicon for Minecraft.net and the icon for Minecraft.exe and Minecraft.app.
 * In Indev, placeable grass blocks were stored in chests for a short time, and when placed, no matter where, the grass would never die. The only way to kill the grass was to mine the block.
 * In Survival Test mode, sheep would eat grass to regrow wool on their bodies, reverting it to dirt. Often, the grass would regrow just as quickly as sheep would eat it.
 * Although the top texture for the grass differs from biome to biome, the side texture seemingly always remains the same - the bright green from grassland biomes.
 * Between Alpha 1.2.0 and Beta 1.8, Grass block had a different texture when obtained in the inventory (via an Inventory Editor or the /give command) or held by Endermen (in the 1.8 Pre-release). The strange inventory texture appeared to have the side face on the top and sides.
 * As of Beta 1.5, the grass block textures on the top of the sides are the same hue as the grass on top on Fancy mode.
 * Before the Halloween Update, grass blocks had a bright green top texture since Biomes didn't exist at that time.
 * When the Silk Touch Enchantment was first introduced, grass placed in the nether was grey.
 * In Minecon's goodie-bags, grass, along with creeper, diamond, and the player, were given as foldable decorations.
 * While grass in the inventory was fixed in Beta 1.8, it was not legitly obtainable until Minecraft 1.0. The reason for this is in the Beta 1.8 prereleases, endermen that picked up grass showed the grass with side textures only, however, when fully released, grass blocks showed up normally while held.