Citrine or lemon quartz is the lemon yellow translucent variant of the mineral quartz (SiO2). Properties Like the other varieties of quartz, the translucent citrine is a nesosilicate. The yellow color is caused by trace elements in which mainly divalent and trivalent iron play a role. The crystal system of citrine is trigonal and the hardness is 7. Name: The name citrine is derived from citrus (because of its yellow color). The quartz variety, depending on the color, was in the past also called Madeira topaz, golden topaz or Bahía topaz, completely unjustified because topaz is a completely different mineral. This was probably done to suggest a higher preciousness. Appearance: The main sites of citrine are Brazil, Madagascar and the former Soviet Union. Often Amethyst is burned and sold as Citrine. You can recognize this by brown to black points. Citrine is more valuable than Amethyst.