from matplotlib.legend_handler import HandlerPatch

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

import matplotlib.patches as mpatches

class HandlerEllipse(HandlerPatch):

def create_artists(self, legend, orig_handle,

xdescent, ydescent, width, height, fontsize, trans):

center = 0.5 * width - 0.5 * xdescent, 0.5 * height - 0.5 * ydescent

p = mpatches.Ellipse(xy=center, width=width + xdescent,

height=height + ydescent)

self.update_prop(p, orig_handle, legend)

p.set_transform(trans)

return [p]

c = mpatches.Circle((0.5, 0.5), 0.25, facecolor="green",

edgecolor="red", linewidth=3)

plt.gca().add_patch(c)

plt.legend([c], ["An ellipse, not a rectangle"],

handler_map={mpatches.Circle: HandlerEllipse()})