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Over the years, the selection of various trees in the game thanks to new biomes and areas has grown exponentially. Each tree type comes with its unique wooden plank color as well, which can be helpful when it comes to building unique homes and bases in Minecraft and decorating an existing home with something new. Naturally, some trees and their wood types have become more popular choices than others throughout the years, mainly because of their versatile appearance and how easy they are to find. This ranking of all Minecraft wood types will take both of these into consideration.
9 Huge Crimson Fungus
Biome: Crimson Forest, Nether
There was a time when getting wood in the Nether was an unthinkable task, but now, thanks to new Nether biomes since the 1.16 Nether update, it’s possible to gather resources in some select Nether biomes as well. The Huge Crimson Fungus is a red tree that can be found in the Crimson Forest biome in the Nether, often populated by Piglins and Hoglins, which makes it a fairly dangerous biome to traverse.
The Fungus is actually a mushroom grown into a tree, so technically, it’s not an actual tree. However, once mined, it drops “logs” which can be turned into planks, so it has deserved its spot on this list. The Crimson Fungus has a distinctive red color that sets it apart from other wood types in the game. Some players might appreciate this unique texture, but most of the time it’s too weird to use in building and decoration. In fact, it’s probably best suited for any builds the player might complete in the Nether.
8 Huge Warped Fungus
Biome: Warped Forest, Nether
The Huge Warped Fungus is the second “tree” type found in the Nether these days. It looks exactly the same as its Crimson cousin, the only difference being its primary colors. It has a strange, turquoise style going on that makes it difficult to use in almost anything, unless players get very creative. Its bizarre color could actually fit in together with something similarly turquoise, such as prismarine, but even prismarine remains a somewhat niche building block of choice.
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To get this wood type, players will need to find themselves a Warped Forest biome in the Nether. This is actually one of the benefits of choosing this wood type since this biome is incredibly safe for players to travel through if they can keep their eyes trained down. The biome is populated by Endermen, which are completely passive so long as the player doesn’t place their crosshair on their heads and provoke them.
7 Acacia Wood
Biome: Savanna
Now, on to the Overworld tree types. At the bottom of the barrel is acacia wood, a special, extremely orange wood type that can be found in acacia trees by traveling to savanna biomes. Granted, the acacia trees are some of the most interesting tree types in the game. They have a unique shape, which is rare to see in most Minecraft trees. In that sense, it’s unfortunate that the color of acacia trees is so jarring.
Some players might really enjoy the overly orange hue of acacia wood, but as savanna villages show, the color is just a bit too bright. Desert and jungle builds might be best suited for acacia wood, but otherwise, many players tend to leave acacia trees alone or only use it to make sticks and tools, preferring other, more natural colors of wood in the game.
6 Mangrove Wood
Biome: Mangrove Swamp
The latest addition to the selection of trees is the Mangrove. It spawns exclusively in the Mangrove Swamp biome, which is a type of lush, tropical swamp found in warm regions of Minecraft. Expect to find it nearby jungles, savannas, desert biomes, and such, along with a bunch of frogs inhabiting it. Mangroves also have an extremely unique appearance that makes them a bit more interesting as trees, but once harvested, they fall short compared to other wood types.
Mangrove logs have a nice, rich brown color on the outside, but the inside is almost a wine-red shade. Once turned into planks, this red color persists, and is fairly bright and strong. It’s almost similar to the Crimson Fungi, except the fungi have a more magenta color, whereas Mangrove planks tend to be a warmer shade of red. Either way, while there are certainly builds where this can work, Mangroves are a bit too unique to be the best and most versatile.
5 Jungle Wood
Biome: Jungle and its variants
Jungle wood is sort of the gateway wood type to other, more unique wood types. It’s just at the edge of being slightly different but still toned down that it can work in many scenarios despite a slightly peachy, orange hue. If players are tired of the more vanilla wood types, choosing jungle trees as their go-to harvesting place can be a nice change of pace without going too crazy with different colors and shades.
Jungle trees are of course unique to jungle biomes and depending on the player’s seed, finding a jungle biome can be somewhat tricky. Search through any warm regions that include desert and badlands biomes for a chance to discover one. The jungle log alone is a really interestingly textured block and good for decoration and building, so players can play around with this wood type quite a bit to achieve different looks and shades without going overboard.
4 Birch Wood
Biome: Birch Forest, regular Forests, Meadows
Birch is one of the most common trees in Minecraft and is set apart by its distinctive white exterior, with a darker shade of green leaves. Most forest biomes will have at least a few birch trees, so this type of wood is incredibly easy to find in the game, as forest spawns are highly common for players.
Birch is an interesting choice of wood. Its log is too strange to be used as it is, so most players will almost always turn it into planks or strip the logs, which gives them a really unique but natural appearance. Birch is ideal for builds where players want to add some light. It’s the wood type with the lightest shades, and this can work in a huge variety of builds and decoration choices. At the same time, however, its light wooden texture might still be too light for players to choose it as their go-to, primary building block.
3 Dark Oak Wood
Biome: Dark Oak Forest
The preference for dark, full colors has been clear in many of the more traditional Minecraft builds. Dark wood allows players to make accents and highlight details, and they bring in some variety without necessarily stealing the show too much. That’s why dark oak trees are so popular among players because they’re basically just like regular oak trees, but just the right shade of darker. The two wood types mix quite well together, too.
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Dark Oak Forests are fairly common in most Minecraft seeds, so players don’t have to worry too much about getting their hands on dark oak. These thick forest biomes are difficult to traverse and shaded from daylight, but they are ideal for getting a ton of wood at once. Most trees also have a shape that sets them apart from other trees, save maybe for the jungle tree that grows extremely tall. The dark oak can be four blocks big and with branches, which gives it a cool appearance ideal for an aesthetic tree garden, too.
2 Spruce Wood
Biome: Taiga and its variants, Snowy Plains, Windswept Forest, Grove
Speaking of dark wood types and accents, spruce wood was the original decoration accent long before dark oak became a thing. It’s easy to see why: taiga biomes are immensely common in the game and come in all types of variants as well, which means players won’t need to go very far when looking for spruce wood. It also grows in an interesting, tiered shape, which makes it a nice tree to use as it is as decoration in a garden for example.
Spruce wood is a slightly different shade of dark compared to dark oak. While dark oak logs are evenly dark within and on the outside, spruce logs have a light inside and dark outside. This can make for some cool decoration if players are looking to build traditional, medieval-style wooden homes. Typically, spruce wood is a go-to choice for these types of builds, and pairs well with the classic oak wood. The planks aren’t as dark as dark oak planks, so players who want to maintain a degree of lightness but in a different shade can still choose spruce as a building option.
1 Oak Wood
Biomes: Forests, Swamp, Savanna, Plains (and Meadows), Jungle variants, Wooded Badlands
The good old vanilla oak tree might seem boring to players who have been around for years, but there is a reason why this is the go-to tree for so many Minecraft players, veterans, and beginner builders alike. Not only is it prevalent in a number of biomes and therefore easy to find, it just has that perfect shade of light brown that makes it an incredibly aesthetically pleasing building block. Players who spawn into a world without any oak tree variants around are most likely the exception, too, given how common it is.
Oak wood is almost like the perfect middle ground. It’s the foundation for so many builds, because of its shade. Moreover, because it’s such a toned-down color, it can be combined with so many other block types easily without looking awkward. Oak wood pairs fantastically with a bunch of stone variants, wool, and even glass. In terms of maximum creative freedom, oak trees are the best choice to plant. Plus, along with dark oak trees, normal oaks drop apples for players to replenish their hunger.
Minecraft is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS, and many other platforms.
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