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druse - sugar on quartz
Druse is the correct mineralogical term for the coating of very small crystals on host gem rock. Only when used as an adjective is it properly called "drusy" (pronounced "drew-zee") as in "drusy quartz."
Drusy crystals can grow on many gems, though the most common is quartz.
Drusy stones often exhibit more richness of color than their composite (underlying) mineral.
The nomenclature drusa was referred to as early as 1753, as the name given by Saxon miners to "a crust of relatively small crystals lining the sides of a cavity in a rock."

drusy chrysocolla

Druse (pronounced "drooze") refers to a layer of very small but discernable sugar-like quartz crystals or 'points' that form within or on a variety of stones, specifically those less than 2mm. Druse can be compared to the inside of a geode, but on a much, much smaller scale.
This phenomenon occurs on a variety of stones such as amethyst, azurite, chrysocolla, malachite, hematite, psilomelane, pyrite, and carnelian.

drusy agate

To form, druse requires a mineralogical environment that allows hydrothermal enrichment, generally low temperature and low pressure.
When the ground water carrying the dissolved silica is forced into a porous zone in the rock, fairly rapid cooling can occur. This sometimes causes the rapid formation of tiny crystals (druse) on the surfaces of cavities in the rock which 'layer' over previously deposited minerals like chrysacola, azurite, amethyst and hematite.
Unless one has actually seen druse in person, the true nature of the stone is difficult to capture on camera or even adequately describe. One really needs to see it and touch it to appreciate its unique beauty.

symbolic attributes

metaphysical
energy receptive / yin
element water