Grass is a non-solid plant block that has wheat seeds as a drop. Its color is biome-dependent, and matches the color of grass blocks.
Tall grass[a] is a two-block high variety of grass.
Ferns are variants of grass found only in certain biomes and have the same characteristics as grass.
Large ferns are a two-block high variety of ferns.
Obtaining
Breaking
When broken normally, all variants drop 0 or 1 wheat seeds. They can be obtained as an item using shears.
The double tall grass and large ferns drop two of the respective single blocks when broken using shears. By planting a single fern, growing it with bone meal and then using shears on the resulting tall fern, a single fern yields two ferns.
Natural generation
Grass
Grass generates on grass blocks in most biomes with a grassy soil, like plains or forests. Tall grass generates in plains and savannas. There is approximately 8.6 tall grass per chunk.
Ferns
Ferns occur naturally only in jungle, taiga, taiga mountains, snowy taiga and giant tree taiga biomes. Large ferns generate in the same biomes, excluding jungles. Large ferns can be found in some taiga and snowy taiga[BE only] village houses.
Chest loot
| Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Java Edition | ||||
| Grass | Village | Savanna house chest | 1 | 45.9% |
| Bedrock Edition | ||||
| Grass | Village | Savanna house chest | 1 | 45.9% |
| Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Java Edition | ||||
| Tall Grass | Village | Savanna house chest | 1 | 45.9% |
| Bedrock Edition | ||||
| Tall Grass | Village | Savanna house chest | 1 | 45.9% |
| Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Java Edition | ||||
| Fern | Village | Taiga house chest | 1 | 18.6% |
| Bedrock Edition | ||||
| Fern | Village | Taiga house chest | 1 | 20.3% |
| Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Java Edition | ||||
| Large Fern | Village | Taiga house chest | 1 | 18.6% |
| Bedrock Edition | ||||
| Large Fern | Village | Taiga house chest | 1 | 20.3% |
Trading
Wandering traders can sell ferns for one emerald.
Post-generation
Bone meal can be used on a grass block to grow grass, ferns[Bedrock Edition only] and occasionally flowers on it and in its vicinity. It can also be used on grass or a fern to create a tall grass or large fern, respectively.
Usage
Double tall plants have a disproportionately large hitbox compared to other plants, which is a feature intentionally programmed into the game.[1][2] The only exception to this rule is tall seagrass.
Flower pots
Ferns can be placed in flower pots.
Composting
Placing grass into a composter has a 30% chance of raising the compost level by 1.
Placing tall grass into a composter has a 50% chance of raising the compost level by 1.
Placing a fern into a composter has a 65% chance of raising the compost level by 1.
List of colors
Java Edition
The specific instructions are: Potted fern renders
These values are generated by the biome dyeing algorithm. See Biome colors for more information.
Bedrock Edition
Sounds
| Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Block broken | Blocks | Once the block has broken | block | subtitles | 1.0 | 0.8 | 16 | |
| Block placed | Blocks | When the block is placed | block | subtitles | 1.0 | 0.8 | 16 | |
| Block breaking | Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | block | subtitles | 0.25 | 0.5 | 16 | |
| None[sound 1] | Entity-Dependent | Falling on the block with fall damage | block | None[sound 1] | 0.5 | 0.75 | 16 | |
| Footsteps | Entity-Dependent | Walking on the block | block | subtitles | 0.15 | 1.0 | 16 |
| Sound | Source | Description | Resource location | Volume | Pitch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blocks | Once the block has broken | dig | 0.7 | 0.8-1.0 | |
| Blocks | When the block is placed | dig | 0.8 | 0.8-1.0 | |
| Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | hit | 0.3 | 0.5 | |
| Players | Falling on the block with fall damage | fall | 0.4 | 1.0 | |
| Players | Walking on the block | step | 0.3 | 1.0 | |
| Players | Jumping from the block | jump | 0.11 | 1.0 | |
| Players | Falling on the block without fall damage | land | 0.21 | 1.0 |
Data values
ID
| Name | Identifier | Form | Block tags (JE) | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grass | grass | Block & Item | azalea_log_replaceable[upcoming: JE 1.17] lush_plants_replaceable[upcoming: JE 1.17] | block.minecraft.grass |
| Fern | fern | Block & Item | azalea_log_replaceable[upcoming: JE 1.17] | block.minecraft.fern |
| Tall Grass | tall_grass | Block & Item | lush_plants_replaceable[upcoming: JE 1.17] | block.minecraft.tall_grass |
| Large Fern | large_fern | Block & Item | None | block.minecraft.large_fern |
| Name | Identifier | Numeric ID | Form | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grass and fern | tallgrass | 31 | Block & Giveable Item[i 1] | tile.tallgrass.grass.name tile.tallgrass.fern.name |
| Double Tallgrass and large fern | double_plant | 175 | Block & Giveable Item[i 1] | tile.double_plant.grass.nametile.double_plant.fern.name |
Metadata
In Bedrock Edition, grass uses the following data values:
- grass
| DV | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Grass named "Fern" | |
| 1 | Grass | |
| 2 | Fern | |
| 3 | Fern with NBT variant "snow" |
- double plant
| DV | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Sunflower | |
| 1 | Lilac | |
| 2 | Double Tallgrass | |
| 3 | Large Fern | |
| 4 | Rose Bush | |
| 5 | Peony | |
| 8 | Top Half of any Large Plant; low three bits 0x7 are derived from the block below. |
Block states
Java Edition:
Tall grass and large fern
| Name | Default value | Allowed values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| half | lower | lowerupper | The half of the plant contained in this block. |
Bedrock Edition:
Grass and fern
| Name | Metadata Bits | Default value | Allowed values | Values for Metadata Bits |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tall_grass_type | 0x10x2 | default
| default | 0 | Fern (Unused variant which looks identical to grass) |
tall | 1 | Grass | |||
fern | 2 | Fern | |||
snow | 3 | Fern (looks identical to actual fern) |
Tall grass and large fern
| Name | Metadata Bits | Default value | Allowed values | Values for Metadata Bits |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| double_plant_type | 0x10x20x4 | sunflower | sunflowersyringagrassfernrosepaeonia | 012345 | The flower type. |
| upper_block_bit | 0x8 | false | falsetrue | 01 | If it is the upper half of the plant. For items, it is 0. |
History
- gray item appearence upon introduction
- grass was tinted brighter in the inventory in 1.5 and before - changed when?.
| Java Edition Beta | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.6 | Test Build 3 | File:Grass JE1 BE2.png File:Fern JE1 BE1.png | |||
| 1.6.6 | Bone meal can now be used to instantly grow tall grass on grass blocks. | ||||
| 1.8 | Pre-release | Grass and ferns can now be harvested with shears. Previously, tall grass could not be acquired as an item without the use of external tools. Tall grass in the inventory would appear as its grayscale texture, and would appear as the 'shrub' variety or the dead bush when placed. | |||
| Swamp biomes have been redesigned and rain forest biomes have been removed entirely, so triangular ferns no longer generate. | |||||
| Java Edition | |||||
| 1.0.0 | Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6 | Ferns are now available in the creative inventory. | |||
| 1.1 | 11w49a | Grass can now be eaten by sheep. | |||
| 1.2.1 | 12w03a | Ferns now generate in jungle biomes. | |||
| 12w05a | Placing a block while selecting grass now overwrite the grass, similar to snow. Previously, grass had to be broken to place blocks in that space. | ||||
| 1.4.2 | ? | The sound for grass blocks when walking on it has been changed. How this affects tall grass is unknown. | |||
| 1.5 | 13w02a | Grass with values over 2 now cause a game crash when rendered. | |||
| 13w10a | |||||
| 1.7.2 | 13w36a | File:Tall Grass JE1 BE1.png File:Large Fern JE1 BE1.png Added double tall grass and large ferns. | |||
| Ferns now spawn in taiga and cold taiga biomes. | |||||
| Double tallgrass with values over 5 now cause a game crash when rendered. | |||||
| 1.8.1 | 14w25a | The textures for grass and double tallgrass have been made slightly brighter. | |||
| pre1 | Added facing state to minecraft:double_plant, though without visible effect. | ||||
| 1.13 | 17w47a | The different block states for the tallgrass and double_plant IDs have been split up into their own IDs.
| |||
"Double Tallgrass" has been renamed to "Tall Grass", and it has a new ID: tall_grass. | |||||
| Prior to The Flattening, these block's numeral IDs were 31 (one-block variants) and 175 (two-block variants). | |||||
| 1.14 | 18w43a | ||||
| 18w49a | Grass and tall grass items can now be found in chests in savanna village houses. Therefore, tall grass items have become legitimately obtainable in Survival mode. | ||||
| 18w50a | Fern and large fern items can now be found in chests in taiga village houses. Therefore, large fern items have become legitimately obtainable in Survival mode. | ||||
| Large ferns now generate in front of some taiga village houses. | |||||
| 18w50a | File:Grass JE3 BE3.png The texture of grass has been changed. | ||||
| 19w03a | Placing grass into the new composter now has a 10% chance of raising the compost level by 1. | ||||
| Placing tall grass into the composter now has a 20% chance of increasing the compost level by 1. | |||||
| Placing a fern into the composter now has a 50% chance of raising the compost level by 1. | |||||
| 19w05a | Grass now has a 30% chance of increasing the compost level in a composter by 1. | ||||
| Tall grass now has a 50% chance of increasing the compost level by 1. | |||||
| Ferns now have a 65% chance of increasing the compost level by 1. | |||||
| 1.15 | 19w37a | Large ferns can now drop wheat seeds.[4] | |||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| v0.4.0 | |||||
| v0.5.0 | Grass now drops seeds, despite remaining unobtainable. | ||||
| v0.8.0 | build 2 | File:Grass JE1 BE2.png The tint of grass has been changed. | |||
| Grass is now available in the creative inventory. | |||||
| File:Fern JE1 BE1.png Added ferns. | |||||
| build 5 | Bone meal can now be used to instantly grow grass on grass blocks. | ||||
| v0.9.0 | build 1 | File:Tall Grass JE1 BE1.png File:Large Fern JE1 BE1.png Added tall grass and large ferns. | |||
| Grass and ferns now generate. | |||||
| Double tall grass and ferns now generate. | |||||
| build 5 | Tall grass is no longer flammable. | ||||
| v0.11.0 | build 14 | Double tallgrass and large fern pixels are now square. | |||
| Tall grass and ferns now have a random height. | |||||
| v0.12.1 | ? | One-block high grass and ferns can now occupy the same space as snow layers. | |||
| v0.14.0 | build 3 | Hitboxes of all variants of tall grass no longer occupy an entire block. | |||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | File:Grass JE3 BE3.png File:Fern JE2 BE2.png File:Tall Grass JE2 BE2.png File:Large Fern JE2 BE2.png The textures of grass, ferns, tall grass and large ferns have been changed. | |||
| Large ferns are now sold by the new wandering traders. | |||||
| Large ferns now generate in the new taiga and snowy taiga villages. | |||||
| 1.11.0 | beta 1.11.0.1 | All grass variants can now be used to fill composter. | |||
| Grass and double tall grass can now be found in the savanna village house chests. | |||||
| Fern and large fern can now be found in the taiga and snowy taiga village house chests. | |||||
| 1.16.0 | beta 1.16.0.57 | Trading has changed, wandering trader no longer large fern as they sell regular instead. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU1 | CU1 | 1.0 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | File:Grass JE1 BE2.png File:Fern JE1 BE1.png |
| TU7 | Added ferns to creative. | ||||
| TU12 | Placing a block while selecting grass now overwrites the grass, similar to snow. Previously, grass had to be broken to place blocks in that space. | ||||
| ? | |||||
| 1.90 | File:Grass JE3 BE3.png File:Fern JE2 BE2.png The textures of grass and ferns have been changed. | ||||
| New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
| 0.1.0 | File:Grass JE1 BE2.png File:Fern JE1 BE1.png File:Tall Grass JE1 BE1.png File:Large Fern JE1 BE1.png Added grass. | ||||
Issues
Issues relating to "Grass", "Fern", "Double Tallgrass", or "Large Fern" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia
- Grass cannot be directly set on fire from lightning. However, fire from nearby blocks can spread to it. Oddly enough, the top of grass can be lit but it does not burn this way. When any kind of grass is set on fire, the fire seems to hover just over the grass, as if it were a full block.
- Even though ferns do not produce seeds in real life, as they emit spores instead, they can drop seeds if broken.
- Grass is slightly offset from the block it is sitting on (as seen in the second screenshot). This causes fields of grass to appear more contiguous.
- This offset is solely determined by x and z coordinates, regardless of dimension or world seed[verify]. Based on this feature, it is possible to calculate the coordinates where a screenshot is taken, if the screenshot includes enough grass.
- This can sometimes cause grass to clip horizontally or vertically through block corners.[5]
- Grass can appear in caves on dirt near lava, and rarely, within a few blocks of bedrock. They can also occasionally generate on blocks other than grass, such as sand on beaches or in village buildings.
- Using bone meal on grass in a spawn-protected area on a server still produces grass and flowers.
- Placing any block on grass overwrites the grass, and the grass does not drop seeds.
- The texture for Grass is based on the grass texture from an early version of one of Notch's games, Prelude Of The Chambered
Gallery
Grass appears slightly offset from a grass block.
Grass and ferns in Bedrock Edition have a randomly selected height.
Grass growing in an mineshaft.
Tall grass that was set on fire using flint and steel.
Double tall grass may stump most hostile mobs, such as this creeper, however, mobs may be able to attack if they're right next to the player.
See also
Notes
- ↑ Known as Tall Grass in Java Edition and Double Tallgrass in Bedrock Edition.








