Mushroom

Mushrooms (not to be confused with Huge Mushrooms) are a type of fungi that currently function as a decorative item in Minecraft Alpha and Beta and an ingredient in crafting food, namely mushroom soup.

Growth and Harvesting
Like flowers, mushrooms can be collected immediately by hitting them. Mushrooms will also "pop" out of the ground if pushed by a piston or by flowing water.

As of Beta 1.6, mushrooms spread very slowly. While mushrooms may be planted in direct sunlight or in light levels higher than 12 they will pop out if the square next to them updates, meaning that single mushrooms can be planted for decoration anywhere. Mushrooms will not pop out if the light level around them increases unless the square next to them updates, this can be used to plant decorative mushrooms next to each other in bright areas by blocking off light sources while the mushrooms are planted and then relighting the area (or simply planting them at night, if outside.)

Mushrooms grow only at light level 13 and below, and grow more quickly at light level 5 and lower, this growth rate is determined by the light level of the original - or "seed" - mushroom when growing from a lower light level into a higher light level.

Mushrooms can grow on any solid, non-transparent, square. This includes pumpkins, workbenches, furnaces, and chests. New blocks can be tested by trying to place the mushroom on them, mushrooms cannot be placed on a square unless they could grow onto it. The exception to this is solid light producing blocks (Jack-O-Lanterns and Glowstone) where mushrooms can be placed by hand but cannot grow due to light level.

Mushrooms can spread onto any square touching their own, including squares located upwards and downwards diagonally. A mushroom can grow diagonally even if the path to the new mushroom is blocked.

In 1.8 mushroom spreading was nerfed, so that a mushroom will only spread if there's less than 5 mushrooms in an area of 9x9x3 around the original mushroom.

In the Wild
In the latest Beta version mushrooms may be generated in the open when exploring during night, or under low-light conditions such as those found under trees or overhangs. As of the 1.2.0 update in Alpha, it seems that mushrooms are now more commonplace due to the addition of biomes. Mushrooms can also be found in The Nether and are much more common there due to the low light conditions of that realm.

Red mushrooms are less common than brown mushrooms in all survival-based game modes, although once generated they grow at an equal speed.

Several bug reports have mentioned mushrooms growing on top of trees. As this is a rare occurrence, searching for mushrooms on top of trees is not an efficient way to forage.

As a Crafting Material
The order of the mushrooms does not matter.

History
In Creative Mode, mushrooms were a decorative item and in Survival Test, a food and hazard. Pigs were able to eat mushrooms in Survival Test, but the feature has since been removed, along with sheep eating grass. In Indev, mushrooms were sometimes generated in rare instances under trees or in the shadows of other floating continents in the "Floating" map type.

Brown mushrooms healed in Survival Test, but from Indev onwards, they were unable to be eaten on their own.

In Survival Test, the consumption of red mushrooms caused damage to the player's health. From Indev onwards, spotted red mushrooms are used along with brown mushrooms and a bowl to craft Mushroom Stew.

In the 1.8 Beta pre-release using Bone Meal on any type of regular mushroom will cause it to become a Huge Mushroom.

Trivia

 * In Classic, mushrooms could be placed on any block except another mushroom, and would not break immediately when the block below them was removed.


 * Red Mushrooms strongly resemble real Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric) mushrooms; which are poisonous unless properly prepared, and have deliriant / psychedelic effects when consumed. This makes them inedible in the real world.


 * As of Beta 1.8, If you were to place a mushroom next to another mushroom creative mode, they would both break and mushroom drops would appear.