Leaves

Leaves are a type of block. They are abundant in normally generated maps, appearing on every tree. Leaves have multiple textures, each varying slightly in color, however only one texture is on all six sides of the leaf at one time.

Leaves are available for use in Creative mode. They are often used in making plants, foliage, and tree houses. Leaf blocks are very weak, are readily destroyed by hitting them with any tool, are extremely vulnerable to explosions and are highly flammable. As of Beta 1.2, leaves in snowy areas have a different texture.

In Survival mode, Indev, Infdev, Alpha, and Beta, leaves cannot be obtained. Destroying leaves occasionally yields saplings which can be planted by the player in order to grow new trees.

Leaves can be destroyed faster by using a sword, though swords lose double normal durability when used on leaves. As no other tool yields any increase in removal speed, leaves are best removed with bare hands, or a block or object unaffected by durability, so as not to damage your tools unnecessarily.

There is also a new texture found after 1.2, It looks like leaf but seems to have flowers almost

How Leaves Decay
As of Minecraft Beta 1.0, leaves decay according to a simple formula: leaf blocks decay unless they are within 4 blocks of a log, and connected to the log by other leaf blocks.

Trivia

 * In "Fancy" graphics mode, leaf textures are partially transparent, but in "Fast" graphics they are opaque.
 * Leaves were used as windows before Glass was implemented.
 * In Beta, although Torches and Ladders can be placed on leaves when using fast graphics, they cannot when using fancy graphics. Torches placed on leaves while using fast graphics will remain on leaves even if you switch graphics modes.
 * In Beta, while hitting leaves, clouds and Snow cannot be seen behind the block you are hitting.
 * As of the Halloween Update, when leaves are placed in the inventory using the /give command or an inventory editor, they appear grey. This is because, like grass, leaves are different colors depending on which biome they're in, rather than being the same throughout the map.
 * Leaves force natural light dispersion (-1 light level per block rule), which at this time only affects sunlight. It still makes any leaf block in direct sunlight effectively a level 14 light source.
 * Placing leaves on top of a chest does not prevent the chest from being opened.
 * For a while after the Halloween Update, leaves would no longer wither (decay) when the logs are removed. Notch has confirmed that this was a bug. As of Minecraft Beta 1.0, this has been fixed.
 * Allowing leaves to decay off trees instead of destroying them yourself yields more chance of Saplings coming off the leaves.



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