Cactus

For the removed variants with no model, see Invalid data value Cactus.

Cactus

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool	Any tool
Blast resistance	0.4
Hardness	0.4
Luminous	No
Transparent	Yes
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No
Map color	7 PLANT
Note block instrument	Default (Harp)

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.

Obtaining

Breaking

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

Block	Cactus
Hardness	0.4
Breaking time (secs)
Default	10.6 (JE) 0.6 (BE)
Options
Efficiency	000
Haste	001 1JEBE

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

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.

Natural generation

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 ¹⁄₃ (33.33%) chance to generate in the entrance chamber of trial chambers. Cacti can also generate within abandoned camps.

Mob loot

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

Generated loot

Item	Structure	Container	Quantity	Chance
Java Edition
Cactus	Village	Desert house chest	1–4	80.6% { "item": "Cactus", "stacksize": "1–4", "chance": 0.8060478337988324, "structure": "Village", "container": "Desert house chest" }
Bedrock Edition
Cactus	Bonus Chest	Chest	1–2	60% { "item": "Cactus", "stacksize": "1–2", "chance": 0.6, "structure": "Bonus Chest", "container": "Chest" }
	Village	Desert house chest	1–4	80.6% { "item": "Cactus", "stacksize": "1–4", "chance": 0.8060478337988324, "structure": "Village", "container": "Desert house chest" }

Trading

Wandering traders may sell 1 cactus for 3 emeralds.

Villager		Probability		Villager wants	Player receives	Trades in stock	Villager experience	Price multiplier
		JE	BE
Wandering Trader	Ordinary	6%	6%	3 × Emerald	Cactus	8	—	—

Mob loot

In Bedrock Edition, wandering traders have a chance of 25% (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.

Usage

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.

Farming

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.

Smelting ingredient

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

Name	Ingredients	Smelting recipe	Notes
Green Dye	Cactus + Any fuel	1	1 XP‌[Java Edition only][4]
Green Dye	Cactus + Any fuel	0.2	0.2 XP‌[Bedrock Edition only]

Breeding

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.

Composting

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

Sounds

Java Edition:

wool sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.wool.break	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block placed​[until: JE 26.4]	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.wool.place	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.wool.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.wool.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	0.5	0.75	16
	​Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.wool.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

cloth sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch
	​ ?	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.cloth	​ ?	1.0	0.8–1.0
	​ ?	Blocks	When the block is placed	dig.cloth	​ ?	1.0	0.8–1.0
	​ ?	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.cloth	​ ?	0.35	0.5
	​ ?	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.cloth	​ ?	0.4	1.0
	​ ?	Players	Walking on the block	step.cloth	​ ?	0.3	1.0
	​ ?	Blocks	Jumping from the block	jump.cloth	​ ?	0.12	1.0
	​ ?	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.cloth	​ ?	0.18	1.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Block tags	Translation key
Cactus	cactus	Block & Item	enderman_holdable	block.minecraft.cactus

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID[i 1]	Translation key
Cactus	cactus	81	Block & Giveable Item[i 2]	Identical[i 3]	tile.cactus.name

Block states

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

History

Java Edition

Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.6							Added cacti. It currently renders as a full block.
							The cactus item model uses its side texture on all six faces.
							Player receives 1HP damage when punching them, right clicking on them, or walking on them.
v1.0.11							Cacti can now be placed only on sand, and now have the requirement that the space around it has to be empty. Previously, cacti could be placed to form a damaging floor: both players and mobs would take half a heart of damage when they walk on a cactus block. This made it useful for traps, such as a hallway with a cactus block floor that would kill all mobs that walked on it.
							Collecting cacti no longer hurts the player.​
							The model and texture have been updated to have spines around the block.
v1.0.14							Cactus blocks now can grow to a height of three blocks, allowing for farming. Prior to this update, cacti would not grow.
v1.2.0			preview				Cacti now only generates in the new desert biome, instead of anywhere with sand.
Java Edition Beta
1.2							Cacti can now be smelted, giving cactus green.
1.8			Pre-release				Cactus items are no longer slightly larger than other blocks when dropped.
			Pre-release 2 ;)				Endermen now pick up cacti.
Java Edition
1.4.2			12w34a				The ability to place cacti in flower pots has been added.
1.7.2			13w36a				Cacti now generate in the new mesa biomes.
			13w39a				Added red sand, which cacti can also grow on.
1.9			15w31a				Endermen now drop cacti if killed when holding one. In most cases this results in an Invalid data value Cactus.
			15w43a				A potted cactus can now be found in the basement of the newly added igloo.
			15w49a				Cacti now break if adjacent to lava, or if on any block except cactus and the block above is water or lava.
1.10			pre1				Endermen now only drop valid cacti.
1.13			17w47a				Banners and signs can be placed horizontally adjacent to cacti, immediately breaking the cactus. This action was historically disabled.
			17w50a				Cacti now always break when the block is water, even if the cactus is placed on top of another cactus.
			18w06a				Cacti can no longer be smelted.[5]
			18w14b				Cacti can be smelted again, now yielding 1 experience instead of 0.2 per smelting operation.[4]
1.14			18w43a				The texture of cacti has been changed.
			18w44a				The texture of cacti has been changed, once again.
			18w50a				Potted cacti can now be found in desert villages.
							Cactus items can now be found in chests in desert village houses.
			19w03a				Placing a cactus into the new composter has a 20% chance of raising the compost level by 1.
			19w05a				Cacti now have a 50% chance of increasing the compost level in a composter by 1.
							Added wandering traders, which sell cacti.
1.19.3 Experiment Update 1.20			22w42a				Cacti can now be used to breed camels.
1.20			23w14a				Cacti can now be planted on suspicious sand.
1.20.3 Experiment Update 1.21			23w45a				Cacti can now be found in trial chambers.
1.21.5			25w06a				Cacti can now grow cactus flowers.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.1.3							Added cacti.
v0.2.0							Cacti are now available in the Creative inventory.
v0.4.0							Cacti now appear 3D in the inventory and when dropped; previously they used a completely 2D item texture like many other plants.
							Cacti now obey regular placement exceptions when being placed underwater or on snow.
v0.5.0							Cacti are now available from the nether reactor.
v0.8.0			build 1				The top texture of cacti has been changed.
			build 4				The top texture of cacti has been reverted.
v0.9.0			build 1				The model of cacti has been changed. The spines behind cacti now render regardless of where viewed from.
v0.12.1			build 1				Cacti are no longer available from the nether reactor.
Pocket Edition
?							Cacti no longer deal damage to entities on top of them.
1.0.0			alpha 0.17.0.1				Potted cacti now generate in the basements of igloos.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0			beta 1.2.0.2				Cacti are now found inside bonus chests.
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				The texture of cacti has been changed.
							A 3 block tall cactus and potted cactus now generate in new desert village houses.
							Cacti can now be bought from wandering traders.
1.11.0			beta 1.11.0.1				Cacti can now be found desert village house chests.
							Cacti can now be used to fill composters.
1.16.0			beta 1.15.0.51				Cacti once again deal damage to mobs and items standing on top of them.
1.19.50 Experiment Next Major Update			Preview 1.19.50.21				Cacti can now be used to breed camels.
1.20.60 Experiment Update 1.21			Preview 1.20.60.20				Cacti can now generate in trial chambers.
1.21.70 Experiment Drop 1 2025			Preview 1.21.70.22				Cacti can now grow cactus flowers.

Legacy Console Edition

Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU1	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added cacti.
TU5							Cactus items are no longer slightly larger than other blocks when dropped.
TU14		1.04					The ability to place cacti in flower pots has been added.
TU31	CU19	1.22	1.22	1.22	Patch 3		Cacti now generate in the new mesa biomes.
							Added red sand, which cacti can also grow on.
TU43	CU33	1.36	1.36	1.36	Patch 13		A potted cactus can now be found in the basement of the newly added igloo.
			?				Cacti no longer deal damage to entities on top of them.
			1.90				The texture of cacti has been changed.
			1.91				Added wandering traders, which sell cacti.

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added cacti.

• 
  Until Beta 1.8, cacti were somewhat larger than other blocks when dropped.
• 
  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.

Data history

Issues

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

Trivia

• 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.

Gallery

Screenshots

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

Mojang screenshots

• 
  A village surrounded by cacti
• 
  Another five block cactus

In other media

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

References

External links

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