Tourmaline, black, also known as schorl is a crystalline silicate mineral group in which boron is compounded with elements such as aluminum, iron, magnesium, sodium, lithium, or potassium. This gemstone comes in a wide variety of colors.

The most common species of tourmaline is schorl, the sodium iron (divalent) endmember of the group. It may account for 95% or more of all tourmaline in nature. The early history of the mineral schorl shows that the name "schorl" was in use prior to 1400 because a village known today as Zschorlau (in Saxony, Germany) was then named "Schorl" (or minor variants of this name), and the village had a nearby tin mine where, in addition to cassiterite, black tourmaline was found.