Grossular

Calcium aluminum garnet in more colors than any other garnet — green tsavorite and cinnamon hessonite are the best known.

Grossular specimen — Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How to identify grossular

Rounded garnet crystals in green, orange, pink or brown.
Hardness about 7.
Hessonite often looks 'swirly' inside, like syrup in water.

Often confused with

Emerald
Emerald forms hexagonal prisms.
Compare side by side
Spessartine
Spessartine is a purer, brighter orange.
Compare side by side

Where it's found

Tsavo, Kenya
Tanzania
Sri Lanka
Coahuila, Mexico

Uses

Gemstones.

Rock tumbling

Great for tumbling.

Did you know?

The name comes from the Latin for gooseberry, after its pale green crystals.

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