We've talked about garnets before, like the grossular, which is a subclass of the garnet. Another subclass of garnet is the Andradite, which is an extremely lustrous gemstone.

While the vivid green gemstone above is just one of the many colors that Andradite offers. This gem can be transparent to opaque and also offers a rainbow of colors ranging from orange, brown, yellow, green, red, black, pink, gray and multicolored.

While Andradite is actually a common and opaque mineral, the gem is rarely suitable for use as a gemstone. The forms of this mineral that are fit for gemstone use are transparent and quite valued because of their rarity. Therefore, when you hear the term Andradite, it is referring to the mineral only, and the terms Melanite, Demantoid and Topazolite are the gemstone forms of the Andradite mineral.