The origin of its name is unknown. It has been known and used by the ancient greeks, this word is taken over from them to the latin langue ’gypsum’. It can be scratched with nails. It appears as alabaster (massive, grainy), selenite (stringy), nice crystals of it occur in columnar, tabular or lens shapes, it has some interesting shaped twinned crystals called ’swallow-tail’. Most of the ’desert roses’ are gypsum, usually together grown crystals in lens shaped rosettes, they may consist 50% sand. Its huge masses come out from seawater or issue during the decomposition of ore deposits. It is a common mineral in Hungary, can be found in Perkupa, Alsótelkes, Rudabánya, Dorog etc.