diff --git a/R/palettes.R b/R/palettes.R
index 6dbd788..7cb45e1 100644
--- a/R/palettes.R
+++ b/R/palettes.R
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 #' get_palette( "viridis" )
 #' get_palette( "rainbow" )
 #'
-#' @return 256 row x 3 column matrix if \code{rgb = TRUE}, otherwise a 256-length vector.
+#' @return 3 column matrix if \code{rgb = TRUE}, otherwise a 256-length vector.
 #'
 #' @export
 get_palette <- function( palette, rgb = TRUE ) {
diff --git a/inst/include/colourvalues/palette_utils/palette_utils.hpp b/inst/include/colourvalues/palette_utils/palette_utils.hpp
index d9b18b5..d29ab30 100644
--- a/inst/include/colourvalues/palette_utils/palette_utils.hpp
+++ b/inst/include/colourvalues/palette_utils/palette_utils.hpp
@@ -69,7 +69,8 @@ namespace palette_utils {
       std::string& palette,
       Rcpp::NumericVector& red,
       Rcpp::NumericVector& green,
-      Rcpp::NumericVector& blue ) {
+      Rcpp::NumericVector& blue
+  ) {
 
     if( palette == "viridis" ) {
       red = colourvalues::palette::viridis_red;
diff --git a/man/get_palette.Rd b/man/get_palette.Rd
index 4f91f59..5f36052 100644
--- a/man/get_palette.Rd
+++ b/man/get_palette.Rd
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ get_palette(palette, rgb = TRUE)
 \code{TRUE}, or a vector of hex strings \code{FALSE}}
 }
 \value{
-256 row x 3 column matrix if \code{rgb = TRUE}, otherwise a 256-length vector.
+3 column matrix if \code{rgb = TRUE}, otherwise a 256-length vector.
 }
 \description{
 retrieves one of the available palettes
diff --git a/src/palettes.cpp b/src/palettes.cpp
index 0e3fc4c..7f3c085 100644
--- a/src/palettes.cpp
+++ b/src/palettes.cpp
@@ -5,12 +5,14 @@ using namespace Rcpp;
 
 // [[Rcpp::export]]
 Rcpp::NumericMatrix rcpp_get_palette( std::string palette ) {
-  int n = 256;
-  Rcpp::NumericVector red( 255.0, n );
-  Rcpp::NumericVector green( 255.0, n );
-  Rcpp::NumericVector blue( 255.0, n );
+
+  Rcpp::NumericVector red;
+  Rcpp::NumericVector green;
+  Rcpp::NumericVector blue;
   colourvalues::palette_utils::resolve_palette( palette, red, green, blue );
 
+  R_xlen_t n = red.length();
+
   Rcpp::NumericMatrix nm( n, 3 );
   nm( Rcpp::_, 0 ) = red * 255;
   nm( Rcpp::_, 1 ) = green * 255;
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-palettes.R b/tests/testthat/test-palettes.R
index 550b03a..b9024cf 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-palettes.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-palettes.R
@@ -8,10 +8,9 @@ test_that("palettes are returned", {
   expect_true( length(all_palettes) == 52 )
 
   for( palette in all_palettes ) {
-    print(palette)
     expect_silent( colour_values(1, palette = palette ))
     res <- colourvalues::get_palette( palette )
-    expect_true( ncol( res ) == 3 & nrow( res ) == 256 )
+    expect_true( ncol( res ) == 3 )
 
     ## And call the function directly
     res <- eval(parse(text = paste0("colourvalues:::", palette, "()")))