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Although fluorite comes in many colors, most specimens have only a single color.
After quartz, fluorite is the next most popular mineral in the world for collectors. The element
fluorine
gets its name from fluorite, fluorine's only common mineral.
Fluorite is the source of fluorine for hydrofluoric acid and fluorinated water. |
a bouquet of color
Coming in a bouquet of colors, fluorite has been called the "most colorful mineral in the world." The colors range from the hallmark color purple, to blue, green, yellow, colorless, brown, pink, black and reddish orange, and are only rivaled by the color range of the quartz family.
Chemically, it is calcium fluoride and its crystals, commonly cubic, are transparent or translucent and under certain conditions exhibit fluorescence. Fluorite is most often found in hydrothermal veins, especially those containing lead and zinc minerals.
Fluorite's rich purple, by far its most famous and popular color, easily competes with the beautiful purples of amethyst, with which it is often confused. In fact, specimens of fluorite and amethyst with similar shades of purple are used in mineral identification classes to illustrate the folly of using color as the sole means to identify minerals.
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symbolic attributes
| geographic | |
|---|---|
| state mineral | Illinois |
| metaphysical | |
| astrological gem | Capricorn and Pisces |
| energy | projective /yang |
| element | air, water |
- abalone
- almandine garnet
- amber
- amethyst
- ametrine
- apatite
- aquamarine
- boulder opal
- calcite
- carnelian
- chalcedony
- chrysoprase
- cinnabar
- citrine
- coral
- druse
- fire opal
- fluorite
- fossilized shell
- garnet
- green garnet
- hematite
- hessonite
- iolite
- jasper
- labradorite
- lapis lazuli
- malachite
- milky quartz
- moldavite
- moonstone
- mother-of-pearl
- obsidian
- onyx
- opal-common
- paua
- peridot
- peruvian opal
- prehnite
- pyrite
- quartz
- rose quartz
- rutilated quartz
- serpentine
- shells
- smoky quartz
- tanzanite
- tourmalinated quartz





Although fluorite comes in many colors, most specimens have only a single color.