Displayed at left is the web color yellow-green, a dull medium shade of chartreuse. Before the X11 colors were formulated in 1987, the color term yellow-green was used to refer to the color that is now designated as the web color chartreuse (chartreuse green), shown above. Now, the term "yellow-green" is used to refer to this medium desaturated shade of chartreuse. The color of goose droppings is known as caca d'oie in French and is a yellowish-green shade.

Since about 1973, a sort of fluorescent chartreuse yellow has been adopted as the color of fire engines in parts of the United States and elsewhere. The reason behind this is that chartreuse fire engines are more visible on the streets than the traditional red fire engines, especially at night (the reason for this is the Purkinje Effect, i.e., the cones do not function as efficiently in dim light, so red objects appear to be black). In Australia and New Zealand this form of chartreuse yellow is also known as "ACT Yellow" as this is the color of the fire engines in the Australian Capital Territory. The use of chartreuse fire engines began in the 1970s, when New York ophthalmologist Stephen Solomon produced research claiming that sparkling bright lime-yellow paint would boost the visibility of emergency vehicles.