Color: Black, dark brown, reddish brown, green, rarely white

Streak: Colorless

Luster: Splendent, submetallic, vitreous

Habit: Crystals tabular or short prismatic, pseudohexagonal outline; disseminated, massive aggregates

Hardness: 2.5 to 3

Specific gravity: 2.70 to 3.40

Cleavage: 1, perfect {001}

Tenacity: Thin laminae flexible

Twinning: On {001} about [310] axis, stellate

Crystal system: Monoclinic or triclinic

Crystal class: 2/m

Diaphaneity

Unit cell: a = 5.21 Ǻ, b = 9.00 Ǻ, c = 10.28 Ǻ, β = 101.6˚

Synonyms/varieties: Iron mica, lepidomelane (Fe3+ -rich variety), manganophyllite (Mn -rich variety)