The following is a style attempt, and does not yield as an official article.
Leaves are a type of block. They are abundant in normally generated maps, appearing on every tree.
Function and behaviour
Leaf blocks are very weak, are readily destroyed by hitting them with any tool, are extremely vulnerable to explosions and are highly flammable. The block decays unless they are within 4 blocks of a log, and connected to the log by other leaf blocks.
Leaves, when decaying or upon destroying, 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 gets damaged twice than usual. 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. Leaves removed by an axe unnecessarily damages it for example.
Leaves have multiple textures, each varying slightly in color, however only one texture is on all six sides of the leaf at one time.
Previous changes
- Minecraft Beta 1.2
Leaves in snowy areas now have a different texture.
- Minecraft Beta 1.0
Leaves decay according to another algorithm. Leaf blocks decay unless they are within 4 blocks of a log, and connected to the log by other leaf blocks.
- ???
A bug with the leaf decay algorithm that could trigger an infinite loop which would freeze Minecraft have been fixed.
- ???
A bug makes the leaves not decay anymore even with the absence of logs.
Bugs
- Leaves may grow through other materials such as Stone, Gravel, and Dirt, if a tree grows large enough next to a single layered wall of that material.
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, while hitting leaves, clouds and Snow cannot be seen behind the block you are hitting.
- Allowing leaves to decay off trees instead of destroying them yourself yields more chance of Saplings coming off the leaves.
- An unused texture found after Minecraft Beta 1.2, yields leaves along with have flowers.
Legacy
Leaves are available for use in Creative mode. They are often used in making plants, foliage, and tree houses. Since Indev, leaves cannot be obtained as an inventory item.
Gallery
- Leaves.PNG
A pile of leaves with some trees with leaves in the background