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Salubrious Mullein

#b2b051
Notes

Salubrious Mullein (#B2B051) is a true yellow with a warm character. It leans warm, pulling light toward red, orange, and yellow. Naturally inviting, it suits editorial and hospitality contexts. Its HSL profile (59°, 39%, 51%) places it in the balanced band at a mid lightness. It works across type, buttons, and borders, saturated enough to feel deliberate but balanced enough to not fight the rest of the palette. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary blue. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#b2b051
RGB
rgb(178, 176, 81)
HSL
hsl(59, 39%, 51%)
HWB
hwb(59 32% 30%)
OKLCH
oklch(73.9% 0.118 107.9)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6967 0.6905 0.3718)
HSV
hsv(59, 54%, 70%)
LAB
lab(70.25% -12.14 48.12)
LCH
lch(70.25% 49.62 104.16)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 1%, 54%, 30%)

Etymology

Salubrious
adjective

Latin salūbris, healthful — adjectival suffix -ous. As a color modifier, salubrious implies a clear-and-healthful-and-fresh quality, the crisp color of Alpine-and-Sea-air health-resort and Mediterranean-coast spa-and-thalassotherapy outdoor environment. Sits at the crisp-and-wholesome end of the grid, parallel to healthful and bracing in usage.

Mullein
noun

Verbascum thapsus, the European biennial whose tall yellow flower spikes appear in second-year growth. Used in classical antiquity as a torch (oiled flower spikes) and as a medicinal cough treatment. The color refers to a fresh Mullein flower spike at midsummer: a saturated, slightly cool yellow with the matte finish of small five-petaled flowers along a tall stem.

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.

#b2b051
Original
#bdaa48
Protanopia
#bfad56
Deuteranopia
#bda69b
Tritanopia
#aaaaaa
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
2.28:1
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
9.22:1

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
##B2B051
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6967 0.6905 0.3718)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.118

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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