Taking Inventory: Lilac

Lilacs, believe it or not, are the best flower in Minecraft. They’re so tall! So bushy! And so pink. So very, very pink.

Or should I say magenta? The lilac’s chief role in Minecraft is in the creation of magenta dye. Pink dye comes from peonies or pink tulips. But if you ask me (literally no-one did), the lilac is pinker. So suck it, developers.

Lilacs joined the Minecraft universe in Java version 1.7.2 alongside a swarm of other flowers (tulips, oxeye daisies and azure bluets, to name just a few). They’re one of just four flowers in the game that grow to two blocks tall. Can you name the others? Read to the bottom of the article to check if you were right! Or scroll down right now, cheat, and live with my eternal disappointment in you. Your call.

Lilacs are pretty hard to find. They don’t spawn in plains or swamp. Only forests of various kinds, and even then, they only spawn at world creation. It’s also worth knowing that unlike most other flowers, lilacs can’t be crafted into suspicious stew. Guess they’re just not suspicious enough.  Nor will they fit into a flower pot.

So what can you do with them? Well, you can make them into magenta dye as previously mentioned. You can plant them on the ground around your home. Or you can compost them. Every flower you throw into a composter has a two-in-three chance of raising the level by one.

Lilacs, in the real world, aren’t just one plant. They’re a whole family of twelve different species of small trees. They’re native to southeastern Europe and eastern Asia, but can be found in temperate climates all around the world.

Lilacs usually come with light purple flowers,  a colour that the tree has lent its name to. But you’ll also find white, pale yellow, pink, and even darker purple lilacs. Those flowers grow in big bunches and smell quite strongly, especially in mid spring and early summer.

Here’s a fun fact! You can actually collect wood from lilac plants, and it’s one of the hardest woods that can be found in Europe. Historically it was used to make musical instruments and knife handles. Handy. Oh, and it’s the official state flower of New Hampshire. So that’s nice too.

Okay, ready to test your Minecraft knowledge? The full list of the two-block high flowers is... Lilacs, Sunflowers, Peonies and Rose Bushes. Did you get them all? If so, give yourself a big pat on the back. If not, give someone who did a pat on the back instead. They earned it.