The Spring to Life update (1.21.5) for Minecraft has brought several new blocks to brighten up your world, with the Firefly Bush being one of the most eye-catching additions. This magical little bush emits glowing firefly particles at night, creating beautiful lighting effects that can transform your buildings and landscapes. Let’s look at how to find Firefly bushes, what they do, and how you can use them in your Minecraft world.
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Where to Find Firefly Bushes
Firefly Bushes generate naturally in most Overworld biomes. They typically spawn on grass blocks near water sources in most biomes. In swamp biomes, they’re more common and can generate anywhere, not just near water. You might also find them growing on mud blocks near water in mangrove swamps. In Java Edition, they can rarely generate in badlands biomes if there’s water nearby.
If you’re struggling to find them naturally, exploring river banks and swamps will be your best bet. The bushes grow in small patches, making them relatively easy to spot during daytime exploration.
How Firefly Bushes Work
The magic of Firefly Bushes happens when light levels drop. They emit glowing firefly particles when the light level at their position is 13 or lower. The particles appear as small yellow dots that move erratically around the bush.
These particles can travel up to 5 blocks away in Java Edition or 10 blocks in Bedrock Edition. Interestingly, the particles can pass through some blocks, allowing for creative lighting effects where the particles seem to emerge from solid surfaces.
Additionally, Firefly Bushes emit subtle buzzing sounds at night, provided there are no solid blocks directly above them. Leaves don’t count as solid for this purpose, so you can cover your bushes with leaf blocks and still get the sound effects.
How to Grow Firefly Bushes
Unlike most plants in Minecraft, Firefly Bushes have unique growth mechanics. You can apply bone meal to an existing Firefly Bush to spread it to adjacent blocks. Instead of growing taller like grass, they spread horizontally to neighboring spaces.
Firefly Bushes are easy to collect. They break instantly with any tool or even by hand, and each bush always drops itself when broken. They’re also removed and dropped as items if water or lava flows into their space or if a piston pushes them or moves a block into their space.
When placing them, you have several options for suitable surfaces. They can be placed on grass blocks, mycelium, podzol, all dirt variants (regular, coarse, rooted), farmland, mud and muddy mangrove roots, moss blocks, and pale moss blocks.
In Bedrock Edition, you can also “snowlog” them (place them in the same block as snow layers), though this prevents them from emitting particles or sounds, which defeats their primary purpose.
Uses for Firefly Bushes
The primary use of Firefly Bushes is decoration. The glowing bushes create a magical atmosphere, especially for garden pathways, forest builds, swamp-themed bases, and nighttime lighting.
Like many plants in Minecraft, Firefly Bushes can also be used in composters. Each bush has a 30% chance of raising the compost level by 1, meaning a full stack of 64 bushes will yield approximately 2-3 bone meals. This makes them a decent source of bone meal if you have extras you don’t need for decoration.
The Firefly Bush is a perfect example of how Minecraft continues to add small but significant features that enhance the game’s atmosphere. Whether you’re lighting up your garden or adding a magical touch to your builds, these glowing bushes will become a favorite decorative element in many players’ worlds.
