Psychologically, purple and blue flowers are often seen by us as exotic and elegant. Our cultural associations with purple link the colour to royalty, mystery and creativity. In the ancient Mediterranean, the most prized purple was Tyrian purple, named for the Phoenician city of Tyre. Tyrian purple was not a single recipe but a group of related processes. The compound, mauveine, could be manufactured from coal-tar derivatives and dyed fabrics a vivid purple at a fraction of the cost of Tyrian purple.