Leaves



Leaves are a type of block. They are abundant in normally generated maps, appearing on every tree, and they are a Renewable resource. Leaves have multiple textures, varying slightly in color; however, each individual leaf block will use the same texture on all six sides.

Leaves are available for use in Creative and Beta mode. They are often used in making plants, foliage, and tree houses. Leaf blocks are very weak, can be easily 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. It is possible, but extremely unlikely for a leaf block to stay on fire forever after catching on fire.

Destroying leaves yields saplings 5% (1/20) of the time which can be planted by the player in order to grow new trees, and also apples, with a chance of 0.5% (1/200), as of snapshot 11w48a.

As of Beta 1.7 leaves can be collected using Shears. Using shears collects the leaves with a single click (unless you are in air and/or underwater, which will make them almost instant to harvest using shears yet not as fast), making it faster than the sword. As of Beta version 1.8, player placed leaf blocks no longer decay. Natural leaf blocks can be up to four blocks away from a log block and not disappear. As of 1.1 there is a slight chance oak leaves drop a Red Apple when destroyed.

Leaves can be destroyed faster than with your hands or any other tool aside from shears by using a sword, though swords lose double normal durability when used on leaves. Tools that have Efficiency enchantment can destroy leaves very quickly.

Since the color of leaves can vary depending of biomes, some trees may have more than one leaves color on the same tree.

Alpha
In Alpha, leaves would decay using an algorithm that checks whether it has a solid or leaf block underneath it or is adjacent to a solid block. If it doesn't, it must be connected to a leaf block that is also supported as long as it is no further than five blocks away from said support.

Beta
In Beta, leaves decay according to a simple formula: leaf blocks decay unless they are within 4 blocks of a log block, and connected to the log by other leaf blocks. Thus, harvesting the wood from a tree will cause the leaf blocks to vanish randomly one by one. Before Beta 1.7 leaves could not be harvested without mods, and since Beta 1.8, player or enderman placed leaf blocks will persist over time without decaying.

History



 * Before Beta 1.6, the fact that leaves were marked as transparent when set to Fancy graphics, but marked as opaque when set to Fast, made it possible to place torches and ladders on leaves in "Fast" graphics and switch back to "Fancy" graphics without making them come off.
 * Similarly, in "Fast" graphics, getting stuck inside leaves (usually by using bonemeal) would suffocate you, while on "Fancy" graphics leaves would not suffocate you. For the full list of things leaves do differently depending on graphics mode, see Transparency.
 * Because of its transparency, leaves were used as windows before Glass was implemented.
 * In older versions, hostile mobs could have spawned on leaves on "Fast" graphics. In SMP, leaves had always behaved as if running in "Fast" graphics mode. This meant that torches could be placed on leaves and hostile mobs had a chance to spawn on them, even when running "Fancy" graphics.
 * Before 1.7, leaves could only be obtained via inventory hacking, or the /give command on multiplayer. This is no longer so.
 * Leaves were the first block in the game that gave you a different item depending on what tool you used to harvest it (Shears: 1 leaf block, No tool: 0-1 Sapling).
 * After Snapshot 11w48a, Oak leaves have a small chance of dropping a Red Apple.
 * After Snapshot 12w03a, a fourth type of leaves was added, which only naturally occurs in Jungles biomes.

Bugs

 * When obtained using Silk Touch instead of shears, the dropped leaf blocks cannot be stacked. This is likely due to "placed" and "check for decay" bits being dissimilar.

Trivia

 * In "Fancy" graphics mode, leaves are marked as transparent, but in "Fast" graphics they are opaque. You can see the effect by trying to look through a tree while toggling the graphics mode.
 * In Beta, while hitting leaves, clouds and Snow cannot be seen behind the block you are hitting.
 * Occasionally, leaves will grow through other blocks, acting as though they are still connected to the tree. They may also completely replace blocks they try to grow into.
 * Leaves do not prevent a sapling from growing. As long as the five blocks above a sapling are either leaves or air, it will grow provided it has enough light.
 * Leaves can be supported by a different tree if the original has decayed, even if that means the new tree is of a different species (e.g. a birch tree can support pine leaves after the original pine has been cut down).
 * In the default textures, the leaf to air ratio is about 3:2 for normal/birch leaves, and about 9:5 for pine leaves.
 * Leaves placed by the player will still drop saplings.
 * Leaves do not prevent Chests from being opened, even when running in "Fast" graphics mode. See Opacity.
 * Despite being highly flammable, leaf blocks cannot be used as fuel for a furnace currently.
 * Contrary to common belief leaves do not cushion a player's fall at all and the player will take completely normal fall damage. This is also the same on either Fast or Fancy graphics.
 * When sprinting on leaves, the particles that appear are grey, caused by the fact that they use biome tinting.
 * According to the texture of the jungle leaves, they are supposed to have two yellow blotches on them, but these do not appear (in fancy graphics) due to how biome tinting works; these are speculated to be Cocoa Bean Pods.