Gemstone Glossary

Petalite

A rare mineral, Petalite generally occurs in pastel yellow, ranging to pink and colorless. It was discovered on the Swedish island of Ut Arfvedson by the Brazilian scientist Jos Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva while he was visiting Sweden towards the end of the 18th century. The name 'Petalite' is derived from the Greek 'Petalon' meaning 'Leaf' and 'Lithos' meaning 'Stone' alluding to its leaf-like cleavage.


Petalite is most commonly found in cleavable masses without crystal form. However, it sometimes forms nice crystals occurring as tabular or columnar prisms with glassy appearance. These fine quality crystals are rather rare and fragile. For this reason Petalite is only occasionally cut as a gemstone. The occurrence of Petalite has been reported in Brazil, Australia, Sweden, Finland, USA, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Elba in Italy. The major sources for nice, transparent and facetable stones are Brazil and Namibia.

Commonly found in Lithium-bearing pegmatite, Petalite is composed of Lithium, Aluminium, Silicon, and Oxygen (LiAlSi4O10). It has a relative hardness of 7 and a Specific Gravity of 2.4.

Petalite is a very unique mineral that offers some beautiful pastel colors. It owes its limited desirability to rarity, but definitely deserves a place in collections, especially in larger sizes.

Petalite can be cut into bright stones with a vitreous luster. As it rarely occurs in large crystals, be prepared to see mainly small stones when shopping for Petalite. A specimen that weighs in above 2.0 carats is considered a rather large Petalite. Although it is more of a collection mineral, it will be a great conversation starter wearing Petalite jewelry to a party when no one else has it.