Fern

Fern
Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	0
Hardness	0
Luminous	No
Transparent	Yes
Flammable	Yes (60)
Catches fire; from lava	Yes
Map color (JE)	; 7 PLANT

Ferns are variants of short grass found only in certain biomes and have the same characteristics as grass.

Obtaining

Breaking

When broken normally, ferns have a 12.5% chance of dropping 1 unit of wheat seeds when destroyed. This is affected by the Fortune enchantment, dropping 1-3, 1-5, or 1-7 wheat seeds respectively with Fortune I, II, and III.

Ferns can be obtained as an item if mined by shears. Large ferns also drop two ferns when broken using shears.

Block
Hardness	0
Breaking time (secs)
Default	0.05

Legend

incorrect tool, drops nothing
correct tool, drops nothing or something other than the block itself
correct tool, drops the block itself
italicized can be instant mined

Natural generation

Ferns occur naturally only in jungle, taiga, snowy taiga and old growth taiga biomes.

Generated loot

Item	Structure	Container	Quantity	Chance
Java Edition
	Village	Taiga house chest	1	18.6% { "item": "Fern", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.18575629348123335, "structure": "Village", "container": "Taiga house chest" }
Bedrock Edition
	Village	Taiga house chest	1	20.3% { "item": "Fern", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.20281509304744794, "structure": "Village", "container": "Taiga house chest" }

Trading

Wandering traders can sell ferns for one emerald.

Post-generation

In Bedrock Edition, bone meal can be used on a grass block to grow ferns.

Usage

Placement

Ferns can be placed on grass blocks, podzol, mycelium, dirt, coarse dirt, rooted dirt, mud, muddy mangrove roots, moss blocks, pale moss blocks and farmland.

Ferns can also be placed in flower pots.

All the blocks that ferns can be placed on.

Grazing

When a sheep eats a fern, the block is destroyed, and a sheared sheep regrows its wool. Baby sheep graze grass and ferns much more often than adults and mature 1 minute faster when grazing.

Composting

Placing a fern into a composter has a 65% chance of raising the compost level by 1.

Bone meal

Bone meal can be used on a fern to create a large fern.

List of colors

These values are generated by the biome coloring algorithm. See Biome colors for more information.

Biome	Category	Rainfall	Grass color	Temperature affects	Render
Biome	Category	Rainfall	Grass color	Temperature affects	Short grass	Tall grass	Fern	Large fern	Potted fern
Badlands	Mesa	No	#90814d	No
Beach	Beach	Rain	#91bd59
Birch Forest	Forest	Rain	#88bb67
Cold Ocean	Ocean	Rain	#8eb971
Dark Forest	Forest	Rain	#507a32
Deep Cold Ocean	Ocean	Rain	#8eb971
Deep Frozen Ocean	Ocean	Rain	#8eb971
Deep Lukewarm Ocean	Ocean	Rain	#8eb971
Deep Ocean	Ocean	Rain	#8eb971
Desert	Desert	No	#bfb755
End Barrens	The End	No	#8eb971
End Highlands	The End	No	#8eb971
End Midlands	The End	No	#8eb971
Eroded Badlands	Mesa	No	#90814d	No
Flower Forest	Forest	Rain	#79c05a
Forest	Forest	Rain	#79c05a
Frozen Ocean	Ocean	Snow	#80b497
Frozen River	River	Snow	#80b497
Ice Spikes	Icy	Snow	#80b497
Jungle	Jungle	Rain	#59c93c
Lukewarm Ocean	Ocean	Rain	#8eb971
Mushroom Fields	Mushroom	Rain	#55c93f
Nether	Nether	No	#bfb755
Ocean	Ocean	Rain	#8eb971
Old Growth Birch Forest	Forest	Rain	#88bb67
Old Growth Pine Taiga	Taiga	Rain	#86b87f
Old Growth Spruce Taiga	Taiga	Rain	#86b783
Plains	Plains	Rain	#91bd59
River	River	Rain	#8eb971
Savanna	Savanna	No	#bfb755
Savanna Plateau	Savanna	No	#bfb755
Small End Islands	The End	No	#8eb971
Snowy Beach	Beach	Snow	#83b593
Snowy Taiga	Taiga	Snow	#80b497
Snowy Plains	Icy	Snow	#80b497
Sparse Jungle	Jungle	Rain	#64c73f
Stony Shore	None	Rain	#8ab689
Sunflower Plains	Plains	Rain	#91bd59
Swamp	Swamp	Rain	#6a7039	If temperature below -0.1, used #4c763c.	/	/	/	/	/
Taiga	Taiga	Rain	#86b783
The End	The End	No	#8eb971
The Void	None	No	#8eb971
Warm Ocean	Ocean	Rain	#8eb971
Windswept Forest	Extreme Hills	Rain	#8ab689
Windswept Gravelly Hills	Extreme Hills	Rain	#8ab689
Windswept Hills	Extreme Hills	Rain	#8ab689
Windswept Savanna	Savanna	No	#bfb755
Wooded Badlands	Mesa	No	#90814d	No

Sounds

Java Edition:

v t e `grass` sound type
Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	`block.grass.break`	`subtitles.block.generic.break`	1.0	0.8	16
	Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	`block.grass.place`	`subtitles.block.generic.place`	1.0	0.8	16
	Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	`block.grass.hit`	`subtitles.block.generic.hit`	0.25	0.5	16
	Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	`block.grass.fall`	`subtitles.block.generic.fall`	0.5	0.75	16
	Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	`block.grass.step`	`subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

v t e `grass` sound type
Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	Once the block has broken	`dig.grass`	0.7	0.8–1.0
	Blocks	When the block is placed	`use.grass`	0.8	0.8–1.0
	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	`hit.grass`	0.3	0.5
	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	`fall.grass`	0.4	1.0
	Players	Walking on the block	`step.grass`	0.3	1.0
	Blocks	Jumping from the block	`jump.grass`	0.11	1.0
	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	`land.grass`	0.21	1.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Block tags	Translation key
Fern	`fern`	Block & Item	`enchantment_power_transmitter` `replaceable` `replaceable_by_trees`	`block.minecraft.fern`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Alias ID	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID^{[i 1]}	Translation key
Fern	`fern`	`tallgrass / 2`	`1103`	Block & Giveable Item^{[i 2]}	Identical^{[i 3]} (Numeric: `-848`)	`tile.tallgrass.fern.name`

↑ ID of block's direct item form, which is used in savegame files and addons.
↑ Available with /give command.
↑ The block's direct item form has the same ID as the block.

History

Java Edition Beta
1.6			Test Build 3				Added ferns.^[1]
1.6			Test Build 3				The item form, unobtainable by normal means, has no name, uses the grass texture, does not have a tint applied, and places shrubs instead of ferns even if its damage value is 2 as expected.
1.8			Pre-release				Ferns can now be harvested with shears, allowing for their legitimate acquisition.
							The item now appears with the correct sprite in the inventory, and is also tinted with #7cbd6b.
							The fern item (damage=2) now places ferns instead of shrubs.
							Swamp biomes have been redesigned and rainforest biomes have been removed entirely, so ferns no longer generate.
			Pre-release 2 ;)				The item is now called "Grass" in the inventory.
Java Edition
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6				The tint used for ferns as items has changed to #48b518.
							The item is now called "Fern" in the inventory.
							Ferns are now available in the creative inventory.
1.2.1			12w03a				Ferns now generate in jungle biomes.
1.2.1			12w05a				Placing a block while targeting a fern now overwrite the fern, similar to snow. Previously, ferns had to be broken to place blocks in that space.
1.4.2			12w34a				The ability to place ferns in flower pots has been added.
1.4.2			12w38a				The sounds used for grass-type blocks have been changed.
1.4.4			1.4.3				Ferns no longer appear grayscale when held in third person.
1.7.2			13w36a				Ferns now spawn in taiga and cold taiga biomes.
1.7.2			13w36a				A fern can now be bone mealed into a large fern, which drops two fern items when broken with shears, making ferns renewable for the first time.
1.8			14w07a				The texture planes and pixels of ferns are now completely square.
			14w17a				The texture planes and pixels of ferns are now stretched and rectangular again.
			14w25a				Cross models, including ferns, are now subject to directional shading.
			14w31a				Crosses are no longer subject to directional shading.^[2]
1.14			18w43a				The texture of ferns has been changed.
			18w50a				Fern items can now be found in chests in taiga village houses.
			19w03a				Placing a fern into the composter now has a 50% chance of raising the compost level by 1.
			19w05a				Ferns now have a 65% chance of increasing the compost level by 1.
			19w05a				Wandering traders can now sell a fern for 1 emerald.
1.21.5			25w08a				Sheep can now graze on ferns.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.8.0			build 1				Added ferns.
v0.8.0			build 5				Bone meal can now be used to instantly grow ferns on grass blocks.
v0.9.0			build 1				Ferns now generate naturally.
							The tint of ferns now changes depending on the biome.
							The fern texture has been brightened.
			build 3				Bone meal can now be applied to ferns to create large ferns.
v0.11.0			build 14				Ferns now have a random height.
v0.12.1			build 1				Ferns can now be snowlogged.
v0.14.0			build 3				The hitbox no longer occupies an entire block.
v0.15.0			build 1				The texture is now 44×44, instead of 16×16. Whether this results in any visible changes in-game is unknown.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				The texture of ferns has been changed.
1.11.0			beta 1.11.0.1				Ferns can now be used to fill composters.
1.11.0			beta 1.11.0.1				Ferns can now be found in taiga and snowy taiga village house chests.
1.16.0			beta 1.16.0.57				Wandering traders can now sell a fern for 1 emerald.
1.21.60			Preview 1.21.60.21				Ferns no longer appear mirrored when viewed from certain angles.^[3]
1.21.60			Preview 1.21.60.23				Ferns generate more frequently in taigas, old growth spruce taigas, old growth pine taigas, and sparse jungles.
Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
1.66.0016.0	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added ferns.
1.66.0016.0							The item form is named "Tall Grass".
TU7							The item form is now named "Fern".
TU12							Ferns can now be directly overwritten by placed blocks, like snow and water can, rather than having to be broken beforehand.
TU14		1.04					The ability to place ferns in flower pots has been added.
			1.90				The texture of ferns has been changed.
			1.91				Wandering traders can now sell a fern for 5 emeralds.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added ferns.

Data history

Java Edition
1.13	17w47a	The different block states for the `tallgrass` ID have now been split up into their own IDs.
		"Fern" now has a new ID: `fern`.
		Prior to The Flattening, the block's numeral ID was 31, with metadata 2.
1.17	21w19a	`minecraft:fern` has been added to the newly-implemented `#minecraft:mineable/axe` block tag. This, however, has no effect in-game, since the block breaks instantly anyway regardless of tool used or active effects.
1.21.5	25w10a	`minecraft:fern` has been removed from the block tags `#minecraft:mineable/axe` and `#minecraft:sword_efficient`.
Bedrock Edition
1.21.0	Preview 1.21.0.20	The different block states for the `tallgrass` ID have now been split up into their own IDs.