ok i couldn’t find any like, official demos of this so these are screenshots from this person’s minecraft update review video [linked]:
-official name is ‘glow lichen’, emits level 7 light
-spawns inside caves in isolated patches, semi-rare
-spreads in any main direction when a center lichen block is fertilized with bone meal (cannot spread diagonally)
-can be harvested with shears
-can grow on any surface of a block, including on every side of an air block (top, bottom, and all sides), but can’t be placed on half-blocks. as a result can be placed on ceilings, walls, and floors
-falls off of piston heads and similar block faces when the block is activated
overall, thoughts on this:
first of all, i think what they’re depicting here is specifically the crustose lichen growth form, so the ones that grow very closely to the substrate and look like this [source]:
second of all: honestly im always impressed by how the minecraft dev team translates natural things into minecraft itself, because with the common overworld mobs and flora there’s always (most of time). there are species of squids that glow, for instance, and there are also many species of lichens that glow....under UV light.
this is an important distinction, but some lichens glowing various colors under UV light is a prominent enough thing that it’s a common factor in how to identify lichens. an identification book might ask if a lichen is ‘UV+ orange’ or ‘UV+ green’ or something similar, and generally when you test a lichen like that to see if it glows, it’s pretty easy to tell, because it’s typically pretty prominent. here’s a couple examples from the canadian museum of nature, showing the same branch-dwelling Dudes under regular light and UV light:
this is also an example cited in that same article, but was taken of a tree trunk at a costa recan research station as opposed to a canadian one (more biodiversity in the tropics = more crazy stuff like this going on; the local midwestern species that I’ve seen glow tend to glow orange, yellow, violet, or a brighter shade of green regardless of what they normally look like):
also, in an ID environment, this is best seen in a dark place. like, at my university we have a special little black box with a plastic flap and a UV light embedded on the top that you slide the lichens into when you have to do this test, and it makes the light a lot easier to see.
this form of ID works because some species of lichens produce certain chemicals that either 1. directly reflect UV light like this or 2. create byproducts that do, and some species are so closely related that the easiest indicator is ‘does it glow?’ and ‘what color?’. in most cases you can even know which chemicals are present based on what color glows back. the reason for why The Dudes are out there in the world glowing under UV light is uncertain, but the current theories are either that they’re using it to keep from getting eaten (because the chemicals don’t taste good) and the UV properties just happens to be there, or they’re using it as a kind of sunscreen, in which the UV comes in handy.
so, like....it’s possible that the devs at minecraft just were like, ‘we need a new light source for the cave update’ and picked a random thing that grows, but honestly I’m kind of blown away, because this such a weird tidbit of lichen knowledge that’s just relevant enough to be completely useful and normal information if you’re in a position to identify Dudes, but just obscure enough that the comparison pics i put in this post are some of the only relevant examples i could find through a basic google search. like. who did they contact for their lichen information.... who is in charge of the lichen minecraft team.... who in the mojang offices knew this? did they have a lichen person on call for development?? did they just google ‘can lichens glow’???
anyway, i love it. lichens glowing without any other light source doesn’t really happen irl, but lichens glowing under certain circumstances is, indeed, a fully documented phenomenon. i love that they can grow on any side of any full block, and can spread out, just like regular crustose lichens often grow in a radial pattern (although very, verrryyy slowly; unfortunately fertilizing lichens irl would not have the same effect as the minecraft lichens). also, using shears is a nice touch in the absence of a knife (what i’ve used to collect various Dudes irl in the past) in unmodded minecraft.
in conclusion: absolutely huge strides in lichen popularity and communication undertaken by minecraft gamer lichens. someone at mojang may very well know at least several lichen secrets. personally im very excited to see The Dudes when the update comes out lmao
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