diff --git a/src/figure.js b/src/figure.js
index f14884e7b6..dbc85e6334 100644
--- a/src/figure.js
+++ b/src/figure.js
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
 
-// Wrap the plot in a figure with a caption, if desired.
-export function figureWrap(svg, {width}, caption) {
-  if (caption == null) return svg;
+// Wrap the plot in a figure with a caption and legends, if desired.
+export function figure(decorations, {width}) {
+  decorations = decorations.filter(d => d instanceof Node);
+  if (decorations.length === 1) return decorations[0];
   const figure = document.createElement("figure");
   figure.style = `max-width: ${width}px`;
-  figure.appendChild(svg);
-  const figcaption = document.createElement("figcaption");
-  figcaption.appendChild(caption instanceof Node ? caption : document.createTextNode(caption));
-  figure.appendChild(figcaption);
+  for (const d of decorations) figure.appendChild(d);
   return figure;
 }
diff --git a/src/legends.js b/src/legends.js
index 43994734a1..ab1394b7a9 100644
--- a/src/legends.js
+++ b/src/legends.js
@@ -1,5 +1,31 @@
-import {legendColor} from "./legends/color.js";
+import {Scale} from "./scales.js";
+import {legendRamp} from "./legends/ramp.js";
+import {legendSwatches} from "./legends/swatches.js";
 
 export function legend({color, ...options}) {
-  if (color) return legendColor({...color, ...options});
+  const type = color ? "color" : "unknown";
+  const scale = Scale(type, undefined, color);
+  options = {...color, ...options};
+  let legend = options.legend;
+  if (type === "color") {
+    if (legend === undefined || legend === true) {
+      legend = ["ordinal", "categorical"].includes(scale.type) ? "swatches" : "ramp";
+    }
+    if (legend === "swatches") {
+      legend = legendSwatches;
+    } else if (legend === "ramp") {
+      legend = legendRamp;
+    }
+  }
+
+  if (typeof legend !== "function") {
+    throw new Error(`unknown legend type ${legend}`);
+  }
+
+  // todo: remove scale.scale, add scale.apply and scale.invert?
+  return legend({...scale, ...options});
+}
+
+export function exposeLegends(scale) {
+  return (type, options = {}) => legend({[type]: scale(type), ...options});
 }
diff --git a/src/legends/color.js b/src/legends/color.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 0fbe274cfc..0000000000
--- a/src/legends/color.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-import {Scale} from "../scales.js";
-import {legendRamp} from "./ramp.js";
-import {legendSwatches} from "./swatches.js";
-
-export function legendColor({legend, ...options}) {
-  const scale = Scale("color", undefined, options);
-  if (legend === undefined) legend = scale.type === "ordinal" || scale.type === "categorical" ? "swatches" : "ramp";
-  switch (legend) {
-    case "swatches":
-      return legendSwatches({...scale, ...options});
-    case "ramp":
-      return legendRamp({...scale, ...options});
-    default:
-      throw new Error(`unknown legend type ${legend}`);
-  }
-}
diff --git a/src/plot.js b/src/plot.js
index 9e9805c6c4..6391ec3031 100644
--- a/src/plot.js
+++ b/src/plot.js
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 import {create} from "d3";
 import {Axes, autoAxisTicks, autoScaleLabels} from "./axes.js";
 import {facets} from "./facet.js";
-import {figureWrap} from "./figure.js";
-import { legend } from "./legends.js";
+import {figure} from "./figure.js";
+import {exposeLegends} from "./legends.js";
 import {markify} from "./mark.js";
 import {Scales, autoScaleRange, applyScales, exposeScales, isOrdinalScale} from "./scales.js";
 import {filterStyles, maybeClassName, offset} from "./style.js";
@@ -109,11 +109,19 @@ export function plot(options = {}) {
     if (node != null) svg.appendChild(node);
   }
 
-  // Wrap the plot in a figure with a caption, if desired.
-  const figure = figureWrap(svg, dimensions, caption);
-  figure.scale = exposeScales(scaleDescriptors);
-  figure.legend = (type, options = {}) => legend({[type]: figure.scale(type), ...options});
-  return figure;
+  // Wrap the plot in a figure with a caption and legends, if desired.
+  const decorations = [svg];
+  const scale = exposeScales(scaleDescriptors);
+  const legend = exposeLegends(scale);
+  if (options.color?.extra?.legend) {
+    decorations.unshift(legend("color", options.color.extra));
+  }
+  if (caption != null) {
+    const figcaption = document.createElement("figcaption");
+    figcaption.appendChild(caption instanceof Node ? caption : document.createTextNode(caption));
+    decorations.push(figcaption);
+  }
+  return Object.assign(figure(decorations, dimensions), {scale, legend});
 }
 
 function Dimensions(
diff --git a/src/scales/diverging.js b/src/scales/diverging.js
index 081868f394..8b454c5f66 100644
--- a/src/scales/diverging.js
+++ b/src/scales/diverging.js
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ function ScaleD(key, scale, transform, channels, {
   range,
   symmetric = true,
   interpolate = registry.get(key) === color ? (scheme == null && range !== undefined ? interpolateRgb : quantitativeScheme(scheme !== undefined ? scheme : "rdbu")) : interpolateNumber,
-  reverse
+  reverse,
+  ...extra
 }) {
   pivot = +pivot;
   let [min, max] = domain;
@@ -61,7 +62,7 @@ function ScaleD(key, scale, transform, channels, {
   scale.domain([min, pivot, max]).unknown(unknown).interpolator(interpolate);
   if (clamp) scale.clamp(clamp);
   if (nice) scale.nice(nice);
-  return {type, interpolate, scale};
+  return {type, interpolate, scale, extra};
 }
 
 export function ScaleDiverging(key, channels, options) {
diff --git a/src/scales/ordinal.js b/src/scales/ordinal.js
index fcd7ced28a..71648ee619 100644
--- a/src/scales/ordinal.js
+++ b/src/scales/ordinal.js
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ export function ScaleO(scale, channels, {
   type,
   domain = inferDomain(channels),
   range,
-  reverse
+  reverse,
+  ...extra
 }) {
   if (type === "categorical") type = "ordinal"; // shorthand for color schemes
   if (reverse) domain = reverseof(domain);
@@ -18,7 +19,7 @@ export function ScaleO(scale, channels, {
     if (typeof range === "function") range = range(domain);
     scale.range(range);
   }
-  return {type, domain, range, scale};
+  return {type, domain, range, scale, extra};
 }
 
 export function ScaleOrdinal(key, channels, {
diff --git a/src/scales/quantitative.js b/src/scales/quantitative.js
index de831962af..dfabeb3f39 100644
--- a/src/scales/quantitative.js
+++ b/src/scales/quantitative.js
@@ -58,7 +58,8 @@ export function ScaleQ(key, scale, channels, {
   scheme,
   range = registry.get(key) === radius ? inferRadialRange(channels, domain) : registry.get(key) === opacity ? unit : undefined,
   interpolate = registry.get(key) === color ? (scheme == null && range !== undefined ? interpolateRgb : quantitativeScheme(scheme !== undefined ? scheme : type === "cyclical" ? "rainbow" : "turbo")) : round ? interpolateRound : interpolateNumber,
-  reverse
+  reverse,
+  ...extra
 }) {
   if (type === "cyclical" || type === "sequential") type = "linear"; // shorthand for color schemes
   reverse = !!reverse;
@@ -104,7 +105,7 @@ export function ScaleQ(key, scale, channels, {
   if (nice) scale.nice(nice === true ? undefined : nice);
   if (range !== undefined) scale.range(range);
   if (clamp) scale.clamp(clamp);
-  return {type, domain, range, scale, interpolate};
+  return {type, domain, range, scale, interpolate, extra};
 }
 
 export function ScaleLinear(key, channels, options) {