Stone of the Month: November 2012 Huadu Chrysanthemum Stone
This month’s feature stone is a rare Huadu chrysanthemum stone from the Huadu District of Guangzhou in Guangdong Province in southeastern China. These white to yellowish-cream colored stones originate from one location—Chrysanthemum Mountain. The stones have densely clustered, radiating, flower-like crystals. A research team from the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan recently studied these stones. The team determined that the petal-like crystals are composed of quartz and the central core of the flower-like structures and the matrix are composed of quartz with sericite, plagioclase, kaolinite, and limonite. The stones formed in a volcanic vent when magma was extruded to the surface about 150 million years ago. This type of chrysanthemum stone is much younger and of a different geological origin than the more common type of chrysanthemum stones found in Hubei, Hunan, and other provinces of China.
This nearly pure white stone is 24 cm high, 16 cm deep, and 10.5 cm deep. The base is carved to resemble tree roots. These stones are rarely seen outside of Guangdong Province. There are a limited number of these stones available today in the marketplace and collecting these stones on Chrysanthemum Mountain is prohibited.
