diff --git a/man/man8/ip.8 b/man/man8/ip.8
index ae018fdf..2a27a56e 100644
--- a/man/man8/ip.8
+++ b/man/man8/ip.8
@@ -187,7 +187,8 @@ executes specified command over all objects, it depends if command supports this
 
 .TP
 .BR "\-c" , " -color"
-Use color output.
+Use color output. The color palette is affected by the COLORFGBG environment variable, which typically has the form "fg;bg".
+If "bg" is set to 0-6 or 8, the dark color palette is used.
 
 .TP
 .BR "\-t" , " \-timestamp"