A silverwood tree manually planted in a plains biome.
A Silverwood tree with two nodes.
A silverwood is a tall, magical tree with pale, silver colored wood, sparkling blue leaves, and a thick trunk. Most silverwoods tend to generate with at least one pure aura node in their heartwood, and shimmerleafs are usually found growing close by. Trees with nodes inside them will spread the magical forest biome. The wood of this tree has an assortment of mystical uses, the most notable being the silverwood wand core, a necessary component to crafting the third and highest tier of wand.
Structure[]
Silverwoods consist of a thick trunk arranged in a 3x3 plus-shape that tapers to a single block at the top. The trunk always has two bulges, one at the ground level that creates a thick base and another at the base of the leaves resembling branches. A single log spaced two blocks from the trunk's center pokes down into the soil in all four cardinal directions, mimicking roots. A single cluster of leaves covers the entire upper section of the trunk, giving the tree a lollipop shape.
One or more of the logs in the trunk's core may bear a pure aura node.
Generation[]
Silverwoods generate naturally in a select few magical and forested biomes.
They generate relatively plentifully in magical forests, making up on average 1/14 trees in this biome.
They also have a rare 1/60 chance to appear in any given chunk in forest hills, birch forest hills, and any biome with Minecraft Forge's MAGICAL biome type that isn't magical forest or tainted land.
Only silverwoods generated naturally will have shimmerleafs scattered around their base. Silverwoods grown from saplings will not spawn new shimmerleafs.
Silverwoods will not generate if the generate_trees config option is set to false (default true) or if the world type is set to Superflat.
Blocks and Items[]
The following items can be obtained from silverwoods:
- Shimmerleaf (found growing under naturally grown silverwoods)
- Silverwood leaves (harvested with shears)
- Silverwood log (harvested with any tool)
- Silverwood planks (created from logs)
- Silverwood sapling (rare chance of dropping when leaves are broken)
Growth[]
An outline of the minimum space required to grow a silverwood sapling. The red wool blocks will be overwritten by the grown tree's trunk.
Silverwoods can be grown from silverwood saplings planted on any block that can normally grow an oak sapling. Growth requires a minimum unobstructed area of 3x3 blocks above the sapling, except for the three topmost layers where it requires a 7x7 area, for an open height of at least 9 blocks.
The trunks of silverwoods grown from saplings will generate between 7 and 12 blocks tall, inclusive. Trunks of naturally generated silverwoods in the magical forest biome may generate between 8 and 13 blocks tall, while naturally generated silverwoods elsewhere may generate 7 and 11 blocks tall. The trunk will grow no taller than 2 blocks below an obstruction.
A sliverwood's leaves are generated as a roughly pill-shaped mass around the highest 4 blocks of the trunk, with a radius of approximately 3 blocks in all directions.
Any of the log blocks within the center of the silverwood's trunk minus the bottom and top blocks has a chance to generate with a pure aura node inside, where is the trunk's full height in blocks. Two node-containing blocks cannot generate directly adjacent to one another. Below is a table of average chances for silverwoods grown by various means to spawn with various numbers of nodes:
| Nodes | Sapling | Natural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magical forest | Other | ||
| 0 | 58.571% | 58.738% | 57.972% |
| 1 | 34.852% | 34.927% | 34.822% |
| 2 | 6.212% | 6.832% | 5.912% |
| 3 | 0.358% | 0.491% | 0.291% |
| 4 | 0.00612% | 0.0119% | 0.00309% |
| 5 | 0.0000164% | 0.0000769% | --- |
Uses[]
Silverwood has several very important uses: Early in the game, their wood is one of the very few direct sources for Ordo essentia and can be used in the crucible before a centrifuge is available. (It also offers Praecantatio, but that is shared with Greatwood.) The pure nodes that they can produce while growing (see below) are the earliest available means to hold off taint from an area.
As the thaumaturge progresses, they will use silverwood planks to produce "vis filters", a key intermediate component. The vis filter is used for the arcane alembic, and later for the Alchemical Construct (which in turn is used for the centrifuge and Thaumatorium). The logs are used directly for the silverwood wand core, to produce the most advanced wands.
Silverwood saplings are also very useful. When they grow into trees, they have a chance of spawning a pure node within them, although a node will not spawn if there is another pure node too close. This node will slowly convert the area around it into a magical forest, and will both remove taint from the area, and prevent surrounding taint from encroaching. (Magical Forest is one of the three magical biomes where mana beans can be grown.) The magical forest can be reverted by an Ethereal Bloom or a "bare" pure node. Silverwood saplings can be purchased from a Pech Forager.
A silverwood-grown node can be collected as a Node in a Jar. This will require cutting away the wood around it to make room for the "jar" construct. (Be careful with that Axe of the Stream!) Note that the capture will destroy the node's silverwood block, leaving a "bare" pure node. When placed, this will no longer produce magical forest, but it will revert territory changed by any of the invasive magical biomes, back to its original biome. This applies to Tainted Lands, Eerie biomes, or even Magical Forest.
Trivia[]
Placing any solid block at the location of the red wool shown will force the sapling to grow to its tallest height.
- All of the log blocks that spawn outside of the 3x3 core of the trunk will replace blocks indiscriminately. This can be exploited to remove unbreakable blocks such as bedrock, end portal frames, or blocks that have been warded by other players.
- A silverwood can be forced to grow to its fullest possible height by strategically placing a single block (photoed right).
Thaumonomicon entry[]
These rare and magical trees are a wondrous sight. Their leaves shimmer with magical energy and their pale, soft wood is valued for its purifying properties.
The tree's magical nature is such that aura nodes often form within their hearts - this feature alone makes a silverwood sapling a prize beyond measure.
--- Plants & Trees, Thaumonomicon