Color is often pink or pinkish and can be colorless, white, yellow, gray or even brown or black when iron is present in the crystal. Luster is pearly to vitreous to dull. Transparency crystals are transparent to translucent. Never found in scalenohedrons. Cleavage is perfect in three directions forming rhombohedrons.
Fracture is conchoidal.
Streak is white. Unlike calcite, effervesces weakly with warm acid or when first powdered with cold HCl. Best Field Indicators are typical pink color, crystal habit, hardness, slow reaction to acid, density and luster.