Java Edition:Shrub
Shrub is a variation of grass having the damage value set to 0. It looks almost identical to a dead bush, but can be placed on dirt & grass. Shrubs aren't a part of natural generation, but can be collected using shears and are later changed to dead bushes because of the 1.13 Flattening. Shrubs that are on grass will turn to dead bushes in 1.13 but remain on the grass block and do not pop off unless updated. In 1.17 dead bushes can be placed on grass blocks and dirt, functioning similarly to shrubs.
Obtaining
Indev Item Conversion
Purple cloth from Indev had a numeric ID of 31, identical to shrub. If purple cloth is left in a chest and converted to Beta 1.6 Test Build 3, it'll convert to shrub. The conversion only occurs if the chest containing the item is not opened until Beta 1.6 Test Build 3 or later, otherwise it'll cause the game to crash.
Beta 1.6 Test Build 3 Debug Chests
In Beta 1.6 Test Build 3, any newly generated world would contain up to 11 debug chests with every item in the game. The shrub item was obtainable in the chests 2nd and 5th from the left in the 3rd and 14th slots respectively, in stacks of 64.
note: the shrub is the grey looking grass, not the dead bushes that come after them
Brewing Stand Item Transmutation
Brewing grass in a brewing stand between 15w31a (1.9 snapshot) to 1.10.2 causes the data value to be set to 0, turning it into a shrub. The grass has to be put in the brewing stand in a previous version where invalid items could be put into brewing stand slots.
Green Shrub to Shrub Conversion
The green shrub, which was obtainable from 14w25b to 14w30c (1.8 snapshots), can be converted into a shrub.[1] To transform it just place the green shrub and mine it with shears, this will drop a normal shrub.
Word Tearing and Any Falling Block via Asynchronous Threads
From 14w32a (1.8 snapshot) to 17w46a (1.13 snapshot), asynchronous block updates allow for block palette corruption, and this corruption, when combined with the registry palette type, can allow for the creation of any block that can exist, such as shrubs. Asynchronous block updates also allow for usage of the "generic method" to create a falling block entity of any existing block in your world.
These falling blocks may also be used to obtain their respective item, if it exists in item form, such as end portal frames. Blocks such as end gateways cannot be obtained as items with this method, as they have no corresponding item. Falling blocks also allow for the placement of both blocks that cannot normally be placed, either due to operator restrictions (e.g. command blocks) or not having an item form (e.g. end gateways).
Shrubs, unlike many other desirable blocks obtainable with word tearing, can be harvested with normal shears, and as such do not need to have the generic method utilized to obtain them as items.
Gallery
A shrub in-game on grass and dirt blocks.
