List of Crystal Habits
| Habit | Image | Description | Common Example(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acicular | Needle-like, slender and/or tapered | Natrolite, Rutile | |
| Amygdaloidal | Almond-shaped | Heulandite, subhedral Zircon | |
| Bladed | Blade-like, slender and flattened | Actinolite, Kyanite | |
| Botryoidal or globular | Grape-like, hemispherical masses | Hematite, Pyrite, Malachite, Smithsonite, Hemimorphite, Adamite, Variscite | |
| Columnar | Similar to fibrous: Long, slender prisms often with parallel growth | Calcite, Gypsum/Selenite | |
| Coxcomb | Aggregated flaky or tabular crystals closely spaced. | Barite, Marcasite | |
| Cubic | Cube shape | Pyrite, Galena, Halite | |
| Dendritic or arborescent | Tree-like, branching in one or more direction from central point | Pyrolusite and other Mn-oxide minerals, Magnesite, native copper | |
| Dodecahedral | Dodecahedron, 12-sided | Garnet | |
| Drusy or encrustation | Aggregate of minute crystals coating a surface or cavity | Uvarovite, Malachite, Azurite | |
| Enantiomorphic | Mirror-image habit (i.e. crystal twinning) and optical characteristics; right- and left-handed crystals | Quartz, Plagioclase, Staurolite | |
| Equant, stout | Length, width, and breadth roughly equal | Olivine, Garnet | |
| Fibrous | Extremely slender prisms | Serpentine group, Tremolite (i.e. Asbestos) | |
| Filiform or capillary | Hair-like or thread-like, extremely fine | many Zeolites | |
| Foliated or micaceous or lamellar (layered) | Layered structure, parting into thin sheets | Mica (Muscovite, Biotite, etc.) | |
| Granular | Aggregates of anhedral crystals in matrix | Bornite, Scheelite | |
| Hemimorphic | Doubly terminated crystal with two differently shaped ends. | Hemimorphite, Elbaite | |
| Hexagonal | Hexagon shape, six-sided | Quartz, Hanksite | |
| Hopper crystals | Like cubic, but outer portions of cubes grow faster than inner portions, creating a concavity | Halite, Calcite, synthetic Bismuth | |
| Mamillary | Breast-like: surface formed by intersecting partial spherical shapes, larger version of botryoidal, also concentric layered aggregates | Malachite, Hematite | |
| Massive or compact | Shapeless, no distinctive external crystal shape | Limonite, Turquoise, Cinnabar, Realgar | |
| Nodular or tuberose | Deposit of roughly spherical form with irregular protuberances | Chalcedony, various Geodes | |
| Octahedral | Octahedron, eight-sided (two pyramids base to base) | Diamond, Magnetite | |
| Plumose | Fine, feather-like scales | Aurichalcite, Boulangerite, Mottramite | |
| Prismatic | Elongate, prism-like: crystal faces parallel to c-axis well-developed | Tourmaline, Beryl | |
| Pseudo-hexagonal | Hexagonal appearance due to cyclic twinning | Aragonite, Chrysoberyl | |
| Radiating or divergent | Radiating outward from a central point | Wavellite, Pyrite suns | |
| Reniform or colloform | Similar to botryoidal/mamillary: intersecting kidney-shaped masses | Hematite, Pyrolusite, Greenockite | |
| Reticulated | Crystals forming net-like intergrowths | Cerussite | |
| Rosette or lenticular (lens shaped crystals) | Platy, radiating rose-like aggregate | Gypsum, Barite (i.e. Desert rose) | |
| Sphenoid | Wedge-shaped | Sphene | |
| Stalactitic | Forming as stalactites or stalagmites; cylindrical or cone-shaped | Calcite, Goethite | |
| Stellate | Star-like, radiating | Pyrophyllite, Aragonite | |
| Striated | Not a habit per se, but a condition of lines that can grow on certain crystal faces on certain minerals | Tourmaline, Pyrite, Quartz, Feldspar, Sphalerite | |
| Stubby or blocky or tabular | More elongated than equant, slightly longer than wide, flat tablet shaped | Feldspar, Topaz | |
| Platy | Flat, tablet-shaped, prominent pinnacoid | Wulfenite | |
| Tetrahedral | Tetrahedra-shaped crystals | Tetrahedrite, Spinel, Magnetite | |
| Wheat sheaf | Aggregates resembling hand-reaped wheat sheaves | Stilbite |
Read more about this topic: Crystal Habit
Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, crystal and/or habits:
“Love’s boat has been shattered against the life of everyday. You and I are quits, and it’s useless to draw up a list of mutual hurts, sorrows, and pains.”
—Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893–1930)
“Modern tourist guides have helped raised tourist expectations. And they have provided the natives—from Kaiser Wilhelm down to the villagers of Chichacestenango—with a detailed and itemized list of what is expected of them and when. These are the up-to- date scripts for actors on the tourists’ stage.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)
“Opinionated writing is always the most difficult ... simply because it involves retaining in the cold morning-after crystal of the printed word the burning flow of molten feeling.”
—Gavin Lyall (b. 1932)
“Out of my discomforts, which were small enough, grew one thing for which I have all my life been grateful—the formation of fixed habits of work.”
—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844–1911)