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A green cross marking a pharmacy, in much of Europe.
Also known as: Green cross pharmacy sign, Chemist's cross
A green cross — often an illuminated sign outside the door — marks a pharmacy across much of Europe. It carries no legal protection and no standard shade, and the colour convention is regional: the same trade uses a red cross in some countries and neither in others.
Identifies a pharmacy in France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and much of the rest of continental Europe, commonly as an illuminated flashing sign.
A convention rather than a standard. No body defines the shade, proportions or the circumstances of use, and the colour differs by country — which is why the pharmacy cross is green in France and green in Britain but was historically red in others.
An upright cross with four arms of equal length, green, usually shown against a white or dark ground.
Both identify a pharmacy; which appears depends almost entirely on the country.
Colour is the whole distinction and it matters legally: green marks a shop, red is a treaty-protected emblem no shop may display.