Garnet and is one of the most prized of garnet varieties. Topazolite is a golden-yellow variety and melanite is a black variety. Grossular is a calcium-aluminium garnet with the formula CaAl(SiO), though the calcium may in part be replaced by ferrous iron and the aluminium by ferric iron. The name grossular is derived from the botanical name for the gooseberry, "grossularia", in reference to the green garnet of this composition that is found in Siberia. Other shades include cinnamon brown (cinnamon stone variety), red, and yellow. Because of its inferior hardness to zircon, which the yellow crystals resemble, they have also
Garnet gem garnets and was used as lapping and polishing media for the glass industries. The host rock of the garnet here is garnetiferous mica schist and the total percentage of garnet is not more than 7% to 10%, which makes the material extremely costly and non-economical to extract for non-gemstone applications. Garnet is the birthstone of January. It is also the birthstone of Aquarius in tropical astrology. New York has garnet as its state gemstone, Connecticut has almandine garnet as its state gemstone, Idaho has star garnet as its state gemstone, and Vermont has grossular garnet as its state gemstone.