Mushroom Tourmaline Identification Guide
A guide to identifying mushroom tourmaline, an elbaite that grows in radiating columnar aggregates forming a mushroom-shaped cap and stalk.
Read the full Mushroom Tourmaline encyclopedia entry →
What Mushroom Tourmaline Looks Like
Mushroom tourmaline is a rare growth habit of elbaite in which many slender crystals radiate outward and fuse into a rounded, splayed mushroom or cauliflower shape — a "stalk" of parallel fibers flaring into a domed "cap." The classic material comes from Momeik, Myanmar.
- Color: typically pink-to-purple caps, sometimes with green or pale zones
- Luster: vitreous to silky (from the fibrous radiating structure)
- Transparency: translucent to opaque in the dense aggregates
- Habit: radiating/divergent columnar aggregate forming a mushroom cap on a fibrous stem
- Surface: caps show a fanned, fibrous, sometimes botryoidal texture
Step-by-Step Field ID Checklist
- Identify the unmistakable mushroom/fan form — a splayed cap on a columnar stalk.
- Confirm the cap is built of fine radiating fibers of tourmaline, not a single crystal.
- Look for striations on any larger individual crystals in the stalk.
- Check the cross-section of any prism: rounded-triangular.
- Test hardness — scratches quartz (7-7.5).
Key Diagnostic Tests
- Mohs hardness: 7-7.5.
- Streak: white.
- Cleavage/fracture: no real cleavage; uneven/splintery in fibrous aggregates.
- Optics: doubly refractive, pleochroic (best seen in transparent zones).
- Density: SG ~3.0-3.1.
- Pyroelectricity: like all tourmaline, it can attract dust when warmed.
Common Look-Alikes and How to Tell Them Apart
- Ordinary pink/green elbaite: same species, different habit — mushroom tourmaline is defined by the radiating cap form rather than single prisms.
- Rubellite sprays: related elbaite; mushroom tourmaline specifically forms the domed cap-on-stalk shape.
- Radiating zeolites (e.g., mesolite, natrolite): far softer (Mohs ~5) and lighter; fail the quartz scratch test.
- Cobaltoan calcite / pink aggregates: carbonate fizzes in acid and is much softer (Mohs 3); tourmaline does not react and is hard.
Where It Is Found
The most celebrated mushroom tourmaline comes from the Momeik area of Myanmar (Burma), with related radiating elbaite aggregates reported from a few pegmatite localities elsewhere. It is a collector's specimen rather than common cutting rough.
Frequently asked questions
What is mushroom tourmaline?
It is a rare growth habit of elbaite tourmaline in which many slender crystals radiate outward and fuse into a mushroom or cauliflower shape — a fibrous cap atop a columnar stalk — most famously from Momeik, Myanmar.
How can you tell if mushroom tourmaline is real?
Genuine mushroom tourmaline has a hardness of 7-7.5, no acid reaction, a white streak, and a cap built of fine radiating tourmaline fibers. Softer, lighter pink minerals like zeolites or carbonates fail the scratch test or fizz in acid.
What color is mushroom tourmaline?
It is typically pink to purple, sometimes with green or pale zones, with a silky-to-vitreous luster from its fibrous radiating structure.
Where does mushroom tourmaline come from?
The classic specimens come from the Momeik area of Myanmar (Burma), with rare related radiating elbaite from a few other pegmatite deposits.
Mushroom Tourmaline identified by the community
Recent Mushroom Tourmaline specimens identified with Rock Identifier.
