Forest green
A deep green matching the leaves of temperate forests
Forest green is a deep, vivid yellowish green that matches the average colour of leaves in temperate deciduous forests. The name first appeared in English in 1810, and today it is used in digital design, maps, uniforms, and as a symbol for environmental causes.
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- Represents the colour of temperate forest leaves
- First named in English in 1810
- Used for woodland camouflage and Scout uniforms
- A standard web colour: #228B22
- Symbolic in environmental literature and graphics
What colour is Forest green?
Forest green is a strong, deep shade of green that reflects the look of leaves in a temperate deciduous forest. It stands out from lighter or more yellowish greens by its darker, richer tone. The colour is often used to evoke the dense, leafy canopy of mature woodlands. Its vividness makes it distinct from duller or more muted greens, and it is easily recognised in both natural and digital settings.
Where does Forest green come from?
The name 'forest green' was first recorded in English in 1810. It was chosen to describe the average colour of tree leaves in temperate forests, particularly those that lose their leaves in autumn. The term has since become standard in English, and is widely used in art, design, and digital media. In web design, the colour is written as 'forestgreen' without a space.
How Forest green is defined
Forest green as a digital colour is defined by its hex code #228B22, which is used in web and computer graphics. It is also a standard colour in crayon sets, with Crayola adopting it in 1958. There is no single pigment or dye for forest green; instead, it is a mixture of colour values or pigments that match the deep green of forest leaves.
Where Forest green is used
Forest green appears in many places: it is used in digital design and web colours, on maps to show deciduous forests, and in uniforms for Scouts and military woodland camouflage. Many schools and sports teams have adopted it as a team or school colour. It is also used in environmental literature and graphics to represent forest conservation and the Green movement.
What Forest green means
Forest green is often used in environmental contexts, especially in graphic design for literature about forest conservation. The term 'forest green environmentalist' refers to someone deeply committed to environmentalism. In cartography, it marks areas of deciduous forest. The colour is also chosen for uniforms and team colours, but the sources do not mention specific symbolic meanings beyond these uses.
Green around the world
What the green family means from country to country.
A green kerchief is the sign of the campaign for legal abortion. Huge crowds wore it in 2018, and the movement was called the green wave.
Politics and protestHopeSource: Green scarfGreen and gold have been the official national colours since 1984 and are worn by national sports teams. They echo the leaves and flowers of the golden wattle.
Festival and celebrationPrideSource: National colours of AustraliaA Test cricketer is given a dark green cap, the baggy green, on first playing for Australia. Many players wear the same faded cap for a whole career.
Festival and celebrationPrideSource: Baggy greenThe green field of the flag stands for the land and its rice fields. Many people also read it as the youth and vigour of the country.
Nature and renewalPolitics and protestHopeSource: Flag of BangladeshThe flag is white, green and red. The green band, which took the place of the blue in the Russian flag, is read as the country's forests and farmland.
Politics and protestNature and renewalSource: Flag of BulgariaThe green field of the flag is commonly said to stand for the forests. It was first the colour of the House of Braganza, the family of the first emperor.
Politics and protestNature and renewalPrideSource: Flag of BrazilShades and relatives of Forest green
Related shades include Crayola's 'forest green', which has been in use since 1958, 'tropical rainforest', a bluish variant created in 1993, and 'petrified forest', a metallic shade introduced in 2019. Pine green is another similar colour. While 'petrified forest' is meant to look metallic, this effect cannot be shown on screens.
Colours that go with Forest green
Harmonies are worked out from the value #228B22. Contrast ratios follow the WCAG 2 formula.
Questions people ask about Forest green
What colour is forest green?
Forest green is a deep, vivid yellowish green that matches the average colour of leaves in a temperate deciduous forest.
Where does the name 'forest green' come from?
The name comes from the typical colour of leaves in temperate forests and was first recorded in English in 1810.
How is forest green used?
It is used in web design, maps to show forests, uniforms for Scouts and military camouflage, and as a team colour for schools and sports teams.
Is forest green a standard colour in digital design?
Yes, forest green is a standard web colour with the hex code #228B22 and is written as 'forestgreen' in HTML.
Does forest green have any special meaning?
It is often used in environmental contexts to represent forest conservation and the Green movement, but the sources do not mention further symbolic meanings.
Good reading and sources
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Forest green", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). Rang rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. The swatch is an approximation: named colours are not fixed standards, and every screen shows them a little differently. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-03.
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