Glow Lichen

Glow Lichen

Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tools
Blast resistance	0.2
Hardness	0.2
Luminant	Yes (7)
Transparent	Yes
Flammable	Yes
Catches fire from lava	Yes

A glow lichen is a non-solid, light-emitting fungi growth that resembles sparse moss that is ¹⁄₁₆ of a block thick. It can generate, or be placed, on any side of a solid block.

Obtaining

See also: Tutorials/Glow lichen farming

Natural generation

Glow lichen generates naturally in the interior of caves (at any height) on the surface of stone, andesite, diorite, granite, calcite, tuff, deepslate, and dripstone blocks that are exposed to air or water sources.^{[more information needed]} It can be found underwater, but cannot generate in the deep dark‌^{[upcoming: JE 1.19 & BE 1.19.0]} biome.

Post-generation

Using bone meal causes glow lichen to spread to a random adjacent block if possible, otherwise the bone meal will not be consumed. By fertilizing one lichen with bone meal, it is possible to cover the sides and the top of an adjacent block, but not the back. Otherwise, glow lichen does not spread naturally.

Breaking

Glow lichen can be destroyed with anything, but using shears is the only way to collect it. Enchanting shears with Efficiency provides no additional benefit. Breaking them with an axe is the fastest, but does not allow for collection.

Block	Glow Lichen
Hardness	0.2
Tool
Breaking time
Default	0.3
Wooden	0.15
Stone	0.1
Iron	0.05
Diamond	0.05
Netherite	0.05
Golden	0.05
Shears	0.3
Sword	0.2

Usage

Light

Glow lichen emits a light level of 7.

Placement

Multiple glow lichens can be placed in the area of one solid block, such as covering three sides of a corner. When such glow lichens are mined, all glow lichens occupying the same block are also mined. When mined with the correct tool, all glow lichens in the block will drop.

Composting

Placing a glow lichen into a composter has a 50% chance of raising the compost level by 1.

Sounds

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Block broken	Blocks	Breaking the block	block.grass.break	subtitles.block.generic.break	1.0	0.8	16
	None	Blocks	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.grass.fall	None	0.5	0.75	16
	Block breaking	Blocks	Mining the block	block.grass.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit	0.25	0.5	16
	Block placed	Blocks	Placing the block	block.grass.place	subtitles.block.generic.place	1.0	0.8	16
	Footsteps	Blocks	Walking on the block	block.vine.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps	?	?	16

Data values

ID

Name	Identifier	Form	Translation key
Glow Lichen	glow_lichen	Block & Item	block.minecraft.glow_lichen

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID	Translation key
Glow Lichen	glow_lichen	666	Block & Giveable Item	Identical	tile.glow_lichen.name

Block states

See also: Block state

Java Edition:

Name	Default value	Allowed values	Description
down	false	false true	When true, a glow lichen texture is displayed on the bottom.
east	false	false true	When true, a glow lichen texture is displayed on the east.
north	false	false true	When true, a glow lichen texture is displayed on the north.
south	false	false true	When true, a glow lichen texture is displayed on the south.
up	false	false true	When true, a glow lichen texture is displayed on the top.
waterlogged	false	false true	Whether or not there's water in the same place as this glow lichen.
west	false	false true	When true, a glow lichen texture is displayed on the west.

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Metadata Bits	Default value	Allowed values	Values for Metadata Bits	Description
multi_face_direction_bits	0x1 0x2 0x4 0x8 0x10 0x20	0	0 to 63	0 to 63	The directions the glow lichen exists. Each bit determines one direction: 0x1: Down 0x2: Up 0x4: North 0x8: South 0x10: West 0x20: East 0 is unused and it behaves like 63.

History

Java Edition
1.17		21w03a			Added glow lichen.
					Glow lichen placed inside lava converts the lava into waterlogged lichen, even in the Nether.
		21w05a			Changed model of glow lichen. Moved model from 0.01 to 0.1 up.
					Waterlogged glow lichen no longer forms when placed in lava.
		February 9, 2021			Showed early design of glow lichen.
		21w07a			Glow lichen can now be naturally generated on deepslate.
		21w08a			Glow lichen now generates almost twice as often.
		21w11a			Bone meal can no longer be used on glow lichen if it has no blocks to spread to.
					Glow lichen can now be used on a composter.
		21w13a			The model of glow lichen has been tweaked so that the backside texture is mirrored.
		21w20a			Glow Lichen now drops the correct amount if there's more than one on a block.
Upcoming Java Edition
1.19		22w15a			Can now be placed on the top and sides of soul sand, mud and maximum height snow.
Bedrock Edition
1.17.0		beta 1.16.230.50			Added glow lichen.
		beta 1.16.230.54			Glow lichen can now appear on the walls of underground water lakes.
		beta 1.17.0.50			Glow lichen no longer available only through Experimental Gameplay.
Caves & Cliffs (experimental)		beta 1.17.20.22			Glow lichen can now generate between Y=-64 and Y=63.
		beta 1.17.40.20			The maximum Y-level that glow lichen can generate has been increased to Y=120.
1.18.0		beta 1.18.0.22			Glow lichen is no longer able to generate anywhere outside of caves.
1.18.10		beta 1.18.10.26			Glow lichen now emits a light level of 7, matching Java Edition.

Issues

Issues relating to "Glow Lichen" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

• This block was hinted at by Henrik Kniberg, who explained that the glowing ores at Minecraft Live 2020 were prototypes for this.
• If the player removes all directional states using a debug stick, the block becomes invisible but the light emission remains, unless another block is placed there.
• In real life, the lichen is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a symbiotic relationship.

Gallery

• 

  Early design of glow lichen.

• 

  Glow lichens under the sea.

• 

  Glow lichens in a cave.

• 

  Glow lichens in an amethyst geode.

• 

  Another instance of glow lichen underwater.

• 

  Floating glow lichen in a stronghold.

• 

  Glow lichen next to falling water in a cave near the surface.