diff --git a/API.txt b/API.txt
index daf2317..ae2c396 100644
--- a/API.txt
+++ b/API.txt
@@ -141,6 +141,7 @@ Customizing the legend
     backgroundColor: null or color
     backgroundOpacity: number between 0 and 1
     container: null or jQuery object/DOM element/jQuery expression
+    sorted: null/false, true, "ascending", "descending" or a comparator
   }
 
 The legend is generated as a table with the data series labels and
@@ -167,6 +168,21 @@ specify "container" as a jQuery object/expression to put the legend
 table into. The "position" and "margin" etc. options will then be
 ignored. Note that Flot will overwrite the contents of the container.
 
+Legend entries appear in the same order as their series by default. To
+sort them alphabetically, you can specify "sorted" as tue, "ascending"
+or "descending", where true and "ascending" are equivalent.
+
+You can also provide your own comparator function that accepts two
+objects with "label" and "color" properties, and returns zero if they
+are equal, a positive value if the first is greater than the second,
+and a negative value if the first is less than the second.
+
+  sorted: function(a, b) {
+    // sort alphabetically in ascending order
+    return a.label == b.label ? 0 : (
+      a.label > b.label ? 1 : -1
+    )
+  }
 
 Customizing the axes
 ====================
diff --git a/NEWS.txt b/NEWS.txt
index 31d3228..a91d899 100644
--- a/NEWS.txt
+++ b/NEWS.txt
@@ -75,6 +75,9 @@ Changes:
 - Added to a more helpful error when using a time-mode axis without
   including the flot.time plugin. (patch by Yael Elmatad)
 
+- Added a legend "sorted" option to control sorting of legend entries
+  independent of their series order. (patch by Tom Cleaveland)
+
 Bug fixes
 
 - Fix problem with null values and pie plugin (patch by gcruxifix,
diff --git a/jquery.flot.js b/jquery.flot.js
index 3c089dd..8908bf7 100644
--- a/jquery.flot.js
+++ b/jquery.flot.js
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@
                     position: "ne", // position of default legend container within plot
                     margin: 5, // distance from grid edge to default legend container within plot
                     backgroundColor: null, // null means auto-detect
-                    backgroundOpacity: 0.85 // set to 0 to avoid background
+                    backgroundOpacity: 0.85, // set to 0 to avoid background
+                    sorted: null    // default to no legend sorting
                 },
                 xaxis: {
                     show: null, // null = auto-detect, true = always, false = never
@@ -2105,21 +2106,50 @@
             c.normalize();
             return c.toString();
         }
-        
+
         function insertLegend() {
+
             placeholder.find(".legend").remove();
 
             if (!options.legend.show)
                 return;
-            
-            var fragments = [], rowStarted = false,
+
+            var fragments = [], entries = [], rowStarted = false,
                 lf = options.legend.labelFormatter, s, label;
+
+            // Build a list of legend entries, with each having a label and a color
+
             for (var i = 0; i < series.length; ++i) {
                 s = series[i];
-                label = s.label;
-                if (!label)
-                    continue;
-                
+                if (s.label) {
+                    entries.push({
+                        label: lf ? lf(s.label, s) : s.label,
+                        color: s.color
+                    });
+                }
+            }
+
+            // Sort the legend using either the default or a custom comparator
+
+            if (options.legend.sorted) {
+                if ($.isFunction(options.legend.sorted)) {
+                    entries.sort(options.legend.sorted);
+                } else {
+                    var ascending = options.legend.sorted != "descending";
+                    entries.sort(function(a, b) {
+                        return a.label == b.label ? 0 : (
+                            (a.label < b.label) != ascending ? 1 : -1   // Logical XOR
+                        );
+                    });
+                }
+            }
+
+            // Generate markup for the list of entries, in their final order
+
+            for (var i = 0; i < entries.length; ++i) {
+
+                entry = entries[i];
+
                 if (i % options.legend.noColumns == 0) {
                     if (rowStarted)
                         fragments.push('</tr>');
@@ -2127,16 +2157,15 @@
                     rowStarted = true;
                 }
 
-                if (lf)
-                    label = lf(label, s);
-                
                 fragments.push(
-                    '<td class="legendColorBox"><div style="border:1px solid ' + options.legend.labelBoxBorderColor + ';padding:1px"><div style="width:4px;height:0;border:5px solid ' + s.color + ';overflow:hidden"></div></div></td>' +
-                    '<td class="legendLabel">' + label + '</td>');
+                    '<td class="legendColorBox"><div style="border:1px solid ' + options.legend.labelBoxBorderColor + ';padding:1px"><div style="width:4px;height:0;border:5px solid ' + entry.color + ';overflow:hidden"></div></div></td>' +
+                    '<td class="legendLabel">' + entry.label + '</td>'
+                );
             }
+
             if (rowStarted)
                 fragments.push('</tr>');
-            
+
             if (fragments.length == 0)
                 return;