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well known jasper stone is also said to be a gem for February and March. Jasper is an opaque, impure variety of quartz, usually red, yellow or brown in color. This mineral breaks with a smooth surface, and is used for ornamentation or as a gemstone. It can be highly polished and is also used for vases, seals, etc. When the colors are in stripes or bands, it is called striped or banded jasper.

The name means "spotted or speckled stone", and is derived via Old French JASPRE (variant of Anglo-Norman JASPE and Latin IASPIDEM) from Greek IASPIS, ultimately from Persian YASP.

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Green jasper was used to make bow drills in Mehrgarh between 4th-5th millennium BC. Jasper is known to have been a favorite gem in the ancient world; its name can be traced back in Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Assyrian, Greek and Latin. On Minoan Crete, jasper was carved to produce seals circa 1800 BC, as evidenced by archaeological recoveries at the palace of Knossos.

The classification and naming of jasper presents a challenge. Terms attributed to various well-defined materials includes the geographic locality where it is found, sometimes quite restricted such as "Bruneau" (a canyon) and "Lahontan" (a lake), rivers and even individual mountains, many are fanciful such as "Forest Fire" or "Rainbow", while others are descriptive such as "Autumn", "Porcelain" or "Dalmatian". A few are designated by the country of origin such as a Brown Egyptian or Red African leaving tremendous latitude as to what is called what.

Jasper classification and naming