It was shown many years ago, by Sir Arthur Herbert Church, that many gemstones, especially engraved gems (commonly regarded as zircon), were actually hessonite.

[5] Hessonite comes chiefly from Sri Lanka and India, where it is found generally in placer deposits, though its occurrence in its native matrix is not unknown.

Grossular is found in contact metamorphosed limestones with vesuvianite, diopside, wollastonite and wernerite.

This garnet was discovered in the 1960s in the Tsavo area of Kenya, from which the gem takes its name.

[8] Grossular is known by many other names, and also some misnomers;[9] colophonite – coarse granules of garnet[10] (was later identified as a variety of andradite), ernite, gooseberry-garnet – light green colored and translucent,[11] olyntholite/olytholite, romanzovite, and tellemarkite.