Taking Inventory: Vines

They were added to Minecraft in beta version 1.8, alongside fence gates, glass panes, and ender pearls. They’re not solid - you can walk through them - but they will slow you down in the process. You can break them fairly quickly, but you can only collect them if you chop them with shears. Oh, and you can climb them, just like a ladder. Which is handy if you forgot to bring ladders.

Vines spawn all over the place in jungle biomes, mostly attached to jungle trees and terrain but also hanging down from the canopy. In a pinch, you can also sometimes find them in swamps and woodland mansions. Occasionally you might find one on a watchtower wall in a pillager outpost. Oh, and wandering traders will sell them.

In the real world, vines are any plant that climbs or hangs down - including grapes, ivy and more. The ones most like Minecraft’s vines are a group of plants called  “lianas”, which live in tropical (and some temperate) rainforests and hang down from above.

Lianas are pretty important for forest wildlife. Monkeys, sloths, lizards and other canopy-dwelling species use them to get around, because they act as bridges between trees. They can also stop weaker trees from falling down in storms. But it’s not all good news - lianas compete for the same resources that trees do, so the trees that they climb grow slower than those without lianas.

So next time you’re passing through a jungle in Minecraft, do the trees a favour and swish the vines off them. They’ll thank you for it! Er, silently.