Cactus

{
 "title": "Cactus",
 "rows": [
 {
 "field": "Yes",
 "label": "(link to Renewable resource article, displayed as Renewable)"
 },
 {
 "field": "Yes (64)",
 "label": "Stackable"
 },
 {
 "field": "Any tool",
 "label": "Tool"
 },
 {
 "field": "0.4",
 "label": "(link to Explosion#Blast resistance article, displayed as Blast resistance)"
 },
 {
 "field": "0.4",
 "label": "(link to Breaking#Blocks by hardness article, displayed as Hardness)"
 },
 {
 "field": "No",
 "label": "(link to Light article, displayed as Luminous)"
 },
 {
 "field": "Yes",
 "label": "(link to Opacity article, displayed as Transparent)"
 },
 {
 "field": "No",
 "label": "(link to Flammable article, displayed as Flammable)"
 },
 {
 "field": "No",
 "label": "Catches fire<br>from (link to lava article, displayed as lava)"
 },
 {
 "field": "<span style=\"white-space: nowrap;\"><span style=\"display: inline-block; background-color: rgb(0, 124, 0); border: 1px solid #888; border-radius: 0.3em; color: transparent; width: 1em; height: 1em; vertical-align: -0.36em; margin-right: -0.1em\"><br></span> 7 PLANT</span>",
 "label": "(link to Map color article, displayed as Map color)"
 },
 {
 "field": "Default (Harp)",
 "label": "(link to Note Block#Instruments article, displayed as Note block instrument)"
 }
 ],
 "invimages": [
 "Cactus"
 ],
 "images": [
 "Cactus.png",
 "Cactus BE.png"
 ]
}

A cactus is a plant block found in deserts and badlands. It grows over time and can sprout cactus flowers. It damages mobs and destroys minecarts and dropped items that touch it.

A cactus can be mined by hand without taking damage. The tool used to mine the cactus does not affect mining speed.^[1]

If a cactus becomes unsupported (e.g., due to a block being placed next to it or its base removed), it breaks and drops as an item.

A cactus also removes and drops itself as an item if a piston tries to push it, or moves a block into its space. Trying to pull it with a sticky piston does nothing.

Using a sign on the side of a cactus causes both the sign and the cactus to drop as items.

Cacti naturally generate in desert and badlands biomes (twice more common in desert than in badlands). They generate as one (¹¹⁄₁₈ chance), two (⁵⁄₁₈ chance), or three (²⁄₁₈ chance) blocks tall. Rarely taller cacti can be found if generation chooses to generate another on top of one already generated (although not as commonly as sugar cane). Cacti can only generate on sand and red sand, making them impossible to generate on the terracotta badlands plateaus.

A potted cactus can also be found in an igloo with a basement. Potted cacti and 3 block cactus can also be found in some desert village buildings.

Cacti also have a ²⁄₉ (22.2%) chance to generate in the entrance chamber of trial chambers.

Endermen can pick up cacti. If an enderman is holding a cactus when it dies, the cactus will be dropped.

{ "item": "Cactus", "stacksize": "1–4", "chance": 0.8060478337988324, "structure": "Village", "container": "Desert house chest" }

{ "item": "Cactus", "stacksize": "1–2", "chance": 0.6, "structure": "Bonus Chest", "container": "Chest" }

{ "item": "Cactus", "stacksize": "1–4", "chance": 0.8060478337988324, "structure": "Village", "container": "Desert house chest" }

Wandering traders may sell 1 cactus for 3 emeralds.

In Bedrock Edition, wandering traders have a chance of 8.5% (increased by 1% per level of Looting) to drop 1 cactus when killed while showing the item as trade offer, if the player holds an emerald.

A cactus block can be placed only on sand, red sand, suspicious sand, or another cactus block. A cactus breaks itself (and drops as an item) if any block with the legacy solid property, or lava, occupies any of the 4 horizontally adjacent blocks. It also breaks if on the sand and the block above is water or lava.

When most entities, including players and mobs, touch a cactus, it deals 1HP👁 💔
damage every tick (although damage immunity reduces this to once every half-second). Damage from touching a cactus is reduced by armor, and touching it also damages the armor. Mobs do not avoid cactus when they pathfind. Notably, armor stands are exempt from this.

A cactus destroys any items that come into contact with it, including other cactus in item form. Falling blocks such as sand and gravel are not destroyed when falling onto cactus; instead, they are transformed into item form (as happens when it falls into any block with a hitbox that has a height less than 1, such as slabs or buttons). The item created in this case is sometimes (though not always) destroyed by the cactus. The conversion to an item applies even when the falling block is a cactus (which is possible with /summon).

When a minecart hits a cactus block, the minecart drops as an item and is often destroyed, although a hopper can pick it up faster.

A cactus can also be placed in a flower pot, where it is harmless.

A cactus (excluding its spikes) is ⁷⁄₈ of a block in width (the same as chests) and a full block in height, however the collision box is ¹⁵⁄₁₆ of a block high.

Cacti naturally grow to a height of three blocks, adding a block of height when the top cactus block has received 16 random ticks (i.e. on average every 18 minutes, but the actual rate can vary very widely). Bone meal does not work on cactus to speed their growth.^[2][3] A cactus does not need light to grow and is non-flammable. If a cactus has space directly above it, it grows even if the newly-grown block would immediately break due to adjacent blocks.

A cactus also has a chance to grow a cactus flower at any height. This happens after a cactus block has received exactly 9 random ticks (i.e. earlier than growing another cactus block)^{[verify for Bedrock Edition]}. If the cactus is 1 or 2 blocks tall the chance is 10%, at 3 or more blocks tall the chance is 25%. A cactus flower can only grow if there are no blocks in any cardinal direction adjacent to it. A cactus with a cactus flower can no longer grow. When the cactus flower is broken by a player, the cactus may grow taller but can't generate another cactus flower until it has grown at least 1 cactus block.

Cactus provides the highest smelting XP of any farmable block in Java Edition.

Cacti can be used to breed camels and reduce the remaining growth duration of baby camels by 10%. Camels also follow a player holding a cactus.

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

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

• 👁 Until Beta 1.8, cacti were somewhat larger than other blocks when dropped.
  
  Until Beta 1.8, cacti were somewhat larger than other blocks when dropped.
• 👁 In older versions, endermen could place cacti on any block.
  
  In older versions, endermen could place cacti on any block.
• 👁 A cactus can survive in unusual locations using /setblock). However, this no longer works since 1.16.[verify]
  
  A cactus can survive in unusual locations using /setblock). However, this no longer works since 1.16.^[verify]

Issues relating to "Cactus" or "Cacti" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

• Cacti can be placed in 1 block deep water, provided they are placed on sand, and they grow if they break the surface.
• Cacti can be placed next to saplings, but the cactus breaks when the tree grows.
• Endermen can move and place cacti. Thus, they can increase the cactus population in deserts by moving cactus blocks as they grow.
• Signs and paintings can be placed on the sides of cacti and behave as non-blocks, making them cause damage even though they are covering cacti.
• It is possible for cacti to generate on blocks other than sand due to terrain generation; refer to the gallery for examples.
• The pre-Texture Update side & bottom textures is actually a recolor of the pre-Texture Update log. This can be easily seen if you increase the contrast on the Alpha 1.0.6 textures.
• Cactus can be used in the desert to see if the player is in a newly generated area. If most of the cacti around the player is only one block high, then it is most likely new land.
• Dying from touching a cactus displays "[playername] was pricked to death" in the chat messages.
• Blocks can be placed on top of a cactus, including other cactus blocks.
• It is possible to place redstone next to a cactus block without destroying it.
• A 20 block tall cactus can be found on the seed 43931985876593125 at coordinates (-9711824 , ~ , 7726416) and more recently a 22 block tall one on seed 11343195073417814 at coordinates (14955936 , ~ , -3750655) and even a 23 block tall one on the seed 184693195438010998 and coordinates (16274576 ~ 10230656). All these seeds, found by the Minecraft@home research project, work on Java Edition 1.14.4.^[6]
• Top snow can be placed next to cacti without breaking the cacti, no matter how many top snow layers stack.

• 👁 Naturally generated cacti.
  
  Naturally generated cacti.
• 👁 Naturally occurring cacti in a badlands biome.
  
  Naturally occurring cacti in a badlands biome.
• 👁 The bottom of a cactus seen with the "floating cactus" bug.
  
  The bottom of a cactus seen with the "floating cactus" bug.
• 👁 Cacti floating in village garden.
  
  Cacti floating in village garden.
• 👁 A natural one block tall cactus.
  
  A natural one block tall cactus.
• 👁 A natural two block tall cactus.
  
  A natural two block tall cactus.
• 👁 A naturally occurring unusual four-block tall cactus.
  
  A naturally occurring unusual four-block tall cactus.
• 👁 A natural five block tall cactus.
  
  A natural five block tall cactus.
• 👁 A naturally occurring rare six-block tall cactus.
  
  A naturally occurring rare six-block tall cactus.
• 👁 A natural eight block tall cactus, extremely rare.
  
  A natural eight block tall cactus, extremely rare.
• 👁 A twelve-block tall cactus, extraordinarily rare.
  
  A twelve-block tall cactus, extraordinarily rare.
• 👁 A natural nineteen-block tall cactus.[7]
  
  A natural nineteen-block tall cactus.^[7]
• 👁 A natural twenty block tall cactus.[8]
  
  A natural twenty block tall cactus.^[8]
• 👁 A natural twenty-two block tall cactus, the second tallest known cactus.[9]
  
  A natural twenty-two block tall cactus, the second tallest known cactus.^[9]

• 👁 A village surrounded by cacti.
  
  A village surrounded by cacti.
• 👁 Another five block cactus.
  
  Another five block cactus.

• 👁 A LEGO Cactus Knight minifigure.
  
  A LEGO Cactus Knight minifigure.
• 👁 Unique cacti in 15 Year Journey
  
  Unique cacti in 15 Year Journey
• 👁 A cactus ball as it appears in A Minecraft Movie Live Event
  
  A cactus ball as it appears in A Minecraft Movie Live Event
• 👁 Cacti as it appears in Ghast in the Machine!
  
  Cacti as it appears in Ghast in the Machine!

• "Block of the Week: Cactus" by Tom Stone – Minecraft.net, February 10, 2017.