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A Cactus is a plant that occurs naturally in dry areas.

Obtaining

Cactus can be mined by hand without taking damage. The tool used to mine the cactus does not affect the speed in which it is mined.

Block Cactus
Hardness 0.4
Breaking time (secs)
Default 0.6

When the spot a cactus is placed in becomes unsuitable, such as when a solid block is placed next to them or their own sand block underneath is harvested or falls, the cactus block will uproot and will drop as an item.

A cactus will also be removed and drop itself as an item if a piston tries to push it (trying to pull it does nothing) or moves a block into its space.

Natural generation

Cacti naturally occur in desert and mesa biomes. They mainly generate as one, two, or three blocks tall, but very rarely they can generate up to six blocks tall.

Farming

Cacti grow only on sand at a rate of one cactus block every 2–4 minutes, and to a maximum height of three blocks; though, higher stacks can be placed by the player. Cacti can only be placed either on sand, red sand, or on other cactus blocks, with no horizontally adjacent solid blocks. Bone meal does not work on cacti to speed its growth. Cactus do not need light to grow and are non-flammable. If cactus has space directly above it, it will grow; but if the newly grown cactus block has blocks on its sides, it will break immediately after growth and drop itself as an item.

Usage

When any entity, including players and mobs, touches a cactus, 1♥ damage is taken every 0.5 second. Damage from touching a cactus is reduced by armor, but touching it also damages the armor. Mobs will not avoid cacti when they pathfind, making them good for trap and farm design.

Cacti will also destroy any items that come into contact with them, including cactus blocks harvested above them.

When a minecart hits a cactus block, the minecart is dropped as an item - this item is often destroyed as a result, although a hopper will pick it up faster.

A cactus can also be placed in a flower pot, where it is rendered harmless. Cactus is 78 of a block in size, similar to chests.


Smelting ingredient

Name Ingredients Smelting recipe
Cactus Green Cactus +
Any fuel


Data values

Block data

See also: Data values
Value Meaning
0 Freshly planted cactus.
1 to 15 The data value is incremented at random intervals.
When it becomes 15, a new cactus block is created on top as long as the total height does not exceed 3.

Block state

See also: Block states

Java Edition

Name Default value Allowed values Description
age00
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
A freshly-planted cactus – and a cactus that has just grown cactus above it – each have an age of 0.
The age is incremented at random intervals.
At age 15, a cactus may try to grow more cactus above it.

Bedrock Edition

NameMetadata Bits Default value Allowed valuesValues for
Metadata Bits
Description
age0x1
0x2
0x4
0x8
00
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
A freshly-planted cactus – and a cactus that has just grown cactus above it – each have an age of 0.
The age is incremented at random intervals.
At age 15, a cactus may try to grow more cactus above it.

Video

Cactus/video

History

File:Cactus size.png

Until Beta 1.8, Cacti were somewhat larger than other blocks when dropped.

a
1.0.6The cactus was added to the game. Players were hurt 7♥♥♥♥ while breaking them.
File:Cactus-Pre Alpha 1.0.11.png The texture was different to what it is now. The cactus was a full block.
1.0.7Players are now hurt 1♥ while breaking them.
1.0.11Cacti can now only be placed on sand, and now have the requirement that the space around it has to be empty. Previously, cacti could be placed to form a damaging floor: both players and mobs take half a heart of damage when they walk on a cactus block. This made it useful for traps, such as a hallway with a cactus block floor that would kill all mobs that walked on it.
Collecting cacti no longer hurts the player.
Cactus The model and texture were updated to have spines around the block.
b
1.8When dropped onto the world, the Cactus item is no longer slightly larger than most other blocks despite the fact that they were visibly smaller when placed. This was because it used the larger 'item' size, rather than the 'block' size.
pa
0.1.3Added cacti.
0.2.0Cacti is now available in the creative mode inventory.
0.12.1build 1Cacti are no longer available from the Nether reactor.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1Added cacti.
Pi Edition
0.1.1Added cacti.

Issues

Issues relating to "Cactus" or "Cacti" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

  • The bottom of a cactus block does not damage the player.
  • Cactus can be placed underwater, provided they are placed on sand, and will grow if they break the surface.
  • Cactus can be placed next to saplings, but the cactus will break when the tree grows.
  • Endermen can move and place cacti. Thus, they can increase the cactus population in deserts by moving cactus blocks as they grow.
  • Signs can be placed on top of cactus.
  • It is possible for cacti to generate on blocks other than sand due to generated structures; refer to the gallery for examples.
  • Cactus can be used in the desert to see if you are in a newly generated area. If most of the cacti around you are only one block high, then it is most likely new land.
  • Death to a cactus will display "[playername] was pricked to death" in the chat messages.
  • It is possible to sneak off cactus blocks.
  • It is possible to place blocks on top of a cactus.

Gallery


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