Citrine
mineral, yellow quartz var.
Citrine is a transparent, yellow variety of quartz. Its name is derived from the Latin word citrus (citron tree), by way of the French citrin or citron (lemon). Citrine is one of the most popular yellow gemstones and has been used since ancient Egyptian times. There is disagreement as to which trace elements are responsible for its color. Not all yellow quartz is considered citrine, such as quartz stained by iron inclusions or coatings. Natural citrine is rare; most commercially available "citrine" is produced by heating amethyst or smoky quartz.
Color
Natural citrine ranges in color from yellow to yellow-orange or yellow-green. The causes of its color are not well agreed upon. Evidence suggests the color of citrine is linked to the presence of aluminium-based color centers in its crystal structure, similar to smoky quartz. Citrine and smoky quartz occur in the same geological environments and can frequently be found together in the same crystal as smoky citrine.
The public source identifies “Citrine” as mineral, yellow quartz var. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Citrine, mineral and yellow.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q334719. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Citrine” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.