Spodumene is a lithium aluminum silicate mineral (LiAlSi2O6) in the pyroxene group. It’s one of the few lithium-bearing minerals in the world.

While spodumene crystals can be impressively large, their perfect cleavage and parting qualities make them somewhat delicate.

One very rare optical phenomenon seen in spodumene is tenebrescence: a slow, reversible color shift under different UV lighting (the sun in particular). Unlike color-changing gems, tenebrescent gems gradually shift colors when coming in and out of the different lights.

Check out spodumene’s crystal properties listed below:

• Mohs hardness: 6.5-7

• Color: Colorless, gray, white, pink, purple, yellow, green, orange, blue

• Crystal structure: Monoclinic

• Luster: Vitreous (glass-like); Often pearly on cleavages

• Transparency: Transparent to translucent; Some mineral specimens (not used for gems) are opaque

• Refractive index: 1.65-1.68

• Density: 3.03-3.23

• Cleavage: Perfect, 2 directions, prismatic

• Fracture: Uneven to splintery

• Streak: White

• Luminescence: Fluorescence - Orange, yellow, pink, or orange-red in SW-UV & LW-UV (triphane & kunzite); X-ray - Orange-yellow (triphane), orange (kunzite & hiddenite); Orange phosphorescence (kunzite & hiddenite)

• Pleochroism: Present; Strong; Kunzite - colorless to violet or pink; Green stones - Colorless, green, or teal to light green; Hiddenite - green to teal

• Optical effects: Rarely chatoyancy; Tenebrescence

Types of Spodumene

You already know what stones are spodumene; now let’s go deeper into each variety, starting with the most widely known: kunzite

Kunzite is a light-colored pink to purple variety colored by manganese impurities. It shows strong pleochroism, so you’ll see colorless and pink or violet hues from different viewing directions.

Because deeper hues are rarer, they carry greater value. The most valuable stones are deep magenta, followed by saturated violet stones. Among the varieties listed, kunzite has the largest crystals (up to 10 inches).

Hiddenite

Hiddenite is a translucent, emerald-green variety nicknamed the “Carolina Emerald'' for its discovery in North Carolina, USA, in 1876. Plus, some emerald crystals in America are found inside hiddenite!

The stone is colored by chromium impurities. Not all green spodumene is hiddenite, only those colored by chromium, even if both come from the same mine.

This stone is the rarest spodumene variety. Its green shades range but are generally darker than other spodumenes. Hiddenite gems are valuable but small, with most under 2 carats.

Triphane

Triphane is a modern name for transparent, colorless to yellow spodumene. The term is Ancient Greek for “appearing three-fold,” after the stone's strong trichroism.

French mineralogist Rene Haüy coined the name in 1801, and it became a synonym for spodumene during the 1800s-1900s. In the late 1900s, Americans in particular started using “triphane” as a variety name, though some gemologists only use the term “yellow spodumene.” Triphane crystals are always small, between 1-2 inches.

Next, what is the meaning of spodumene?