Mycelium

Mycelium

Type	Solid Block
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool	shovel
First Appearance	Beta 1.9pre
Gravity	No
Luminance	No
Flammable	{{{flammable}}}
Data Value	110

Mycelium is a block similar to grass blocks, but it is only found natively in Mushroom Island Biomes. It can grow over dirt blocks that are in proximity in a similar way to grass.

Behavior

Mycelium looks and acts very similarly to grass. One of its defining characteristics is that the tops of Mycelium blocks have a particle effect that resembles tiny spores being released constantly from the surface. This effect persists even when the Mycelium block is covered in snow; the sides will use the same texture as snow-covered grass, with the spores being the only way to visually tell them apart.

Mushrooms spread faster on Mycelium than on other blocks, and Mycelium is the only block on which mushrooms can stay when an adjacent block is updated despite a light level that is normally too high for the mushroom to remain. It is also one of three blocks, along with dirt and grass, on which Huge Mushrooms may grow.

Like most other blocks, both hostile and friendly mobs may spawn on it under the right conditions. Saplings and flowers cannot be placed on Mycelium, and it cannot be tilled with a hoe to make farmland.

Otherwise, it behaves identically to grass. When harvested, Mycelium normally yields a dirt block, but the Silk Touch enchantment can be used to acquire a Mycelium block. In Creative Mode, it can be equipped and placed like any other block.

Spread

Mycelium is only found naturally in Mushroom Island biomes, but it can spread anywhere or be pushed anywhere with a piston.

Mycelium spreads in exactly the same way as grass: A mycelium block can spread to any dirt block within one space above, one sideways, or three down. The mycelium needs light level 9+ above it and the dirt needs light level 4+ above it, and must not be covered by any light-impeding block i.e. water, ice, lava, slabs, stairs, farmland, or any opaque block. Mycelium also dies under the same conditions as grass: when covered by one of the light-impeding blocks above and the light level at that block is below 4.

Mycelium and grass do not replace one another; whichever arrives on the dirt first will remain. If there is a sapling or flower on a block of dirt when mycelium spreads to it, the plant will pop out and drop as an item. Pumpkins and melons will not spawn on mycelium, even if the stalk is otherwise healthy.

Generated caves and ravines in a Mushroom Island biome will not remove mycelium, often leaving a thin layer over a ravine or 'bars' of mycelium covering a cave.

While mycelium cannot take over farmland, any block that reverts (perhaps because a pumpkin grew on it) is vulnerable not only to visibly adjacent mycelium blocks, but also to buried mycelium in or next to the area. To restrain mycelium from spreading into (or out of) an area, one can begin by surrounding the area in a ring of cobblestone (or any other block not based on dirt), inset in the ground, and ideally 2 blocks deep. However, after doing so, it will still be necessary to dig out most of the area two layers deep, to remove any buried mycelium. If the cobblestone is not 2 blocks deep, the farmer should also check under the cobblestone.

Bugs

None known.

Trivia

• When the mycelium block is covered in snow, it uses the snow covered grass texture for the sides, rather than a texture unique to mycelium.
• It is a common misconception that only mooshrooms can spawn on mycelium. This is not true; friendly and hostile mobs can spawn on mycelium just as on any other block. It is the mechanics of the mushroom biome that prevents other mobs from spawning. Relatedly, mycelium outside of a mushroom biome will not spawn mooshrooms.
• The spore particle effect is called "townaura" in the game code. This may indicate that the gray particle effect was originally planned to mark the area of villages, along with the unused textures in terrain.png.
• In an experiment conducted in the Xbox 360 Edition, mycelium grows onto dirt four out of five times if both mycelium and grass are touching the dirt.
• Mycelium is a popular alternative to grass in player's builds.
• In real life, mycelium is the mushroom's nutrient gathering web of thin threads know as hyphae. The entire mushroom, from the mycelium to the cap is made entirely of hyphae.
• The cap of the mushroom, the part people eat, is the reproductive structure in a mushroom.

Gallery

• MushroomBiome19pre.png

  A Mushroom Biome, primarily composed of Mycelium.

• Snow on Mycelium.png

  Mycelium with snow on top, Mycelium still produces spores.

• 2011-11-27 22.20.49.png

  How a Mushroom Biome appears on a map.

• Myceliumdestroysugarcane.png

  Mycelium spreading in dirt and destroying planted sugar canes.

See also

• Mycelium on Wikipedia

References

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