Plain Avalon Mint

Latin planus, flat, level — used as a color modifier since the medieval period for hues that read as undecorated and direct. Plain white, plain blue: moderate saturation, no shift, no surface effect. Sits in the crisp-bucket center, with the implication of restraint rather than absence.

Old Welsh Afallon, island-of-apples-Arthurian-otherworld. As a color modifier, avalon implies an Arthurian-otherworld-and-island-of-apples quality, the visual register of Arthurian-Avalon-and-Glastonbury-Tor hand-Arthurian-otherworld-and-island-of-apples Arthurian-Avalon-and-Glastonbury-Tor-and-Morgan-le-Fay avalon-and-Arthurian-otherworld surfaces under Arthurian-Avalon-and-Glastonbury-Tor-and-Morgan-le-Fay Glastonbury-Tor-and-Somerset-Levels misty-otherworld-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to eden and helen in usage.

The genus Mentha — peppermint, spearmint, apple mint, water mint — the cooling herb whose menthol gives it that quality at the molecular level. The color refers to fresh peppermint leaves before drying: a clean, slightly cool green with the matte finish of trichome-rich leaf surface. Lighter than basil, cooler than parsley, with the mojito-and-Pimm's association of a herb tied to summer drinks across two continents.