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Flaming Watercress

#85b205
Notes

Flaming Watercress (#85B205) is a true lime with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (76°, 95%, 36%) places it in the highly saturated band at a mid lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary indigo. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#85b205
RGB
rgb(133, 178, 5)
HSL
hsl(76, 95%, 36%)
HWB
hwb(76 2% 30%)
OKLCH
oklch(70.5% 0.178 125.8)
HSV
hsv(76, 97%, 70%)
LAB
lab(67.16% -35.44 67.67)
LCH
lch(67.16% 76.39 117.64)
CMYK
cmyk(25%, 0%, 97%, 30%)

Etymology

Flaming
adjective

Old French flamme, flame — present-participle of flame. As a color modifier, flaming implies a saturated-and-fire-and-bright-color quality, the bright color of autumn-Maple-and-Oak deciduous-foliage fall-color and Yule-log fire emission. Sits at the bright-and-warm end of the grid, parallel to fiery and blazing in usage.

Watercress
noun

Nasturtium officinale, the European aquatic mustard-family green eaten in soups, salads, and sandwiches — particularly in the celebrated cresson de fontaine of French bouquet garni. Watercress color refers to fresh-picked watercress in cool stream water: a saturated, slightly cool deep yellow-green with the satin finish of aquatic-leaf surface. Cooler than arugula.

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

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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.

#85b205
Original
#bca500
Protanopia
#b6a324
Deuteranopia
#8ba997
Tritanopia
#9c9c9c
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).
Failon White
2.51:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAAon Black
8.37:1

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