Sulfates.

Sulfate minerals and their varieties.

Keep each chapter’s scientific identity: a family, species, variety, trade label, rock and fossil are different kinds of names.

Celestine ↗

Mineral species

Celestine is often admired as pale blue crystals inside a cavity. Colorless and white material also occurs, so its sky-blue appearance is familiar rather than universal.

Ivar Leidus · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Display crop

Barite ↗

Mineral species

Barite can form plates, bladed groups and attractive clusters in pale or stronger colors. Its relatively high density is a physical property, not a measure of rarity or value.

Ivar Leidus · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Display crop

Desert rose ↗

Crystal habit / aggregate

A desert rose is a flower-like aggregate with sand caught among crystal blades. The name describes a formation: gypsum and barite can both produce rose-like specimens.

Didier Descouens · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Display crop

Angelite ↗

Blue anhydrite / trade name

Angelite refers to blue anhydrite, CaSO₄, not hydrated gypsum CaSO₄·2H₂O. It is a soft collector and occasional lapidary material; keep it dry and do not turn a trade label into a mine-origin claim.

Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Display crop