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Practical Parsley

#2a5427
Notes

Practical Parsley (#2A5427) is a deep green with an earthy character. It leans grounded and natural, the kind of color that plays well with wood, clay, linen, and warm neutrals. Its HSL profile (116°, 37%, 24%) places it in the balanced band at a dark lightness. It works well as a headline, icon, or deep background in an otherwise light layout, pairing cleanly with cream, bone, and warm neutrals. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary violet. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#2a5427
RGB
rgb(42, 84, 39)
HSL
hsl(116, 37%, 24%)
HWB
hwb(116 15% 67%)
OKLCH
oklch(40.3% 0.086 142.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.2053 0.3255 0.1729)
HSV
hsv(116, 54%, 33%)
LAB
lab(31.76% -25.10 21.74)
LCH
lch(31.76% 33.20 139.10)
CMYK
cmyk(50%, 0%, 54%, 67%)

Etymology

Practical
adjective

Greek praktikós, practical — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, practical implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-everyday quality where the hue carries the visual register of Shaker-and-Quaker utilitarian-and-functional everyday-life craft. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to functional and workmanlike in usage.

Parsley
noun

Petroselinum crispum, the Mediterranean biennial used as both garnish and primary flavor — Italian flat-leaf for cooking, French curly for visual contrast on a plate. The color refers to fresh flat-leaf parsley chopped on a board: a saturated, slightly yellow-shifted green with the matte finish of cellulose-rich leaf. Brighter than basil, cooler than mint, with the kitchen reach of a herb that appears in tabbouleh, gremolata, and persillade.

Closest matches

The nearest named color in three reference sources, ranked by perceptual distance (ΔE76 in CIELAB). ΔE < 1 is imperceptible to most viewers; ΔE > 10 is clearly different. When two sources point to the same hex they’re merged into one tile; click any to open that color’s page.

Variations

Click any swatch to explore

Harmonies

Accessibility

Color-vision simulation

How this color appears to viewers with the four major color-vision-deficiency types. Computed via the Machado (2009) physiologically-based model. If a tile matches the original, the color reads the same to that viewer.

#2a5427
Original
#564d23
Protanopia
#50492a
Deuteranopia
#25524a
Tritanopia
#484848
Achromatopsia
WCAG contrast

The color used as foreground text against pure white and pure black, with the contrast ratio and WCAG 2.1 grade. Aim for AA (4.5:1) for body text and AA Large (3:1) for 18 pt+ headlines; AAA (7:1) is the gold standard for long-form reading surfaces.

The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAAon White
8.77:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
Failon Black
2.40:1

Wide gamut

Display P3 representation

The CSS Color 4 wide-gamut form of this color. Both swatches render the same color on every display — the P3 form only diverges from sRGB when a designer pushes channels outside sRGB's reach.

sRGB hex
sRGB hex
##2A5427
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.2053 0.3255 0.1729)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.086

Moderately saturated colors gain a small bump in P3 — the difference is usually visible side-by-side on wide-gamut hardware but won't change the character of the color.

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