Green Calcite

Green calcite is calcium carbonate coloured green by trace inclusions, usually of chlorite or other minerals, and it shares all the defining properties of calcite: hardness 3, three-directional rhombohedral cleavage, effervescence in dilute acid, and strong double refraction in clear specimens. It is soft, cool to the touch, and often faintly translucent.

Like the other coloured calcites it has no distinct historical tradition of its own, calcite in the mass is limestone and marble, everyday stone rather than treasure, and its presence in the gem and crystal market is a modern phenomenon driven by attractive banded and massive material from Mexico and elsewhere. In twentieth-century crystal practice the green colour places it with the heart centre and with themes of renewal and emotional ease; these are recent colour-based assignments rather than inherited attributions, and calcite carries no medical property.