Confusion over the status of crichtonite is due to the fact that de Bournon included two different minerals in his species: thin hexagonal plates are indeed ilmenite, as has been generally assumed, but the much rarer steep rhombohedra with basal plane are a separate species, with a distinctive X-ray powder pattern (three strongest lines: 3·39 Å,s; 2·875,s; 2·131,S) and a composition (Fe²⁺,Fe³⁺,Ti)_1·71O₃ with Fe²⁺:Fe³⁺:Ti near 8:7:33. There is a rhombohedral pseudo-cell containing three oxygens, with α 23° 19′, a 7·117 Å but there is some evidence of twinning, and the true symmetry is probably orthorhombic or lower.