Top 5 uses for sunflowers in Minecraft

Sunflowers have a long history in Minecraft. These flowers are considered by many players to be some of the best and prettiest flora in all of Minecraft.

Sunflowers were added with the Minecraft 1.7 update. Since then, sunflowers have gone through a bit of change. One change is the addition of the sunflower plains biome, a specific niche of the plains biomes where only sunflowers will spawn. These small sub-biomes are usually very tiny, and can sometimes appear next to flower forest biomes.

Sunflowers can actually only be found in the sunflower plains biomes, making them very rare flowers. Sunflowers are also one of the only flowers that can't be crafted to make suspicious stew.

Players know about sunflowers and their many quirks, but what exactly can players use these flowers for? Here is a list of five possible uses for this beautiful flower.

5 Best uses for sunflowers in Minecraft

#1 - Yellow dye

Sunflower crafting yellow dye (Image via digminecraft)

There are only a few methods by which players can get yellow dye in Minecraft. These include trading, finding it in chests, or the easiest method - crafting. Yellow dye can be crafted from dandelions or sunflowers in Minecraft. One sunflower will result in two yellow dyes. Unfortunately, a yellow dye cannot be crafted to make a sunflower.

#2 - Navigation

Sunflowers pointing east (Image via Minecraft)

Players may wonder what a sunflower could have to do with navigation in Minecraft. Well, these flowers act as a sort of compass, in that instead of pointing north, they point east. Sunflowers, when grown or placed, will always face east. This is a part of what makes sunflowers so unique.

Usually, a player will have to use a map, a compass, or the sun, to tell which direction they're heading in. But on a rainy day without a map or compass, players can keep a sunflower in their inventory. When they place the sunflower on dirt, it will face east, and the player will know which way to head.

#3 - Gardening

When most players think of gardens and farms in Minecraft they think of crops like wheat and carrots. Sunflowers are just as useful in a garden as these other crops though.

Minecraft's game mechanics don't naturally generate sunflowers unless they're in a sunflower plains biome. Most players' gardens and houses don't fall in this small sub-biome. This means players need some other way to grow a lot of sunflowers in vanilla Minecraft.

The only way to do so is to use bonemeal on the sunflower, as this will create one extra sunflower. This little bonemeal trick works on every two-block-tall flower in Minecraft.

#4 - House decoration

Sunflower Minecraft resort (Image via planetminecraft)

Who doesn't love some yellow decor in their Minecraft house. Many Minecraft players will focus on showing off their diamond stash within their house, but to make a truly cozy home to share with visitors, players need to make good use of natural and exotic decorations.

A few sunflowers in pots inside the house, or on a porch right outside the house, can really liven things up. The bright yellow found in sunflowers isn't a common shade in vanilla Minecraft, and with shaders, these rare decorations can look even better.

#5 - Bees

Minecraft bees (Image via wallpapercave)

Bees feed off flowers to survive, and sunflowers fall in that category too. If the player wants a happy bee colony in their backyard, they will definitely need many flowers covering the surrounding area.

Sunflowers are a favorite for the bees, as they're high up and stand next to the hives. Bee nests will occasionally spawn near or in sunflower plains biomes.