def mplcmap_to_palette(cmap, ncolors=None, categorical=False):
    """
    Converts a matplotlib colormap to palette of RGB hex strings."
    """
    from matplotlib.colors import Colormap, ListedColormap

    ncolors = ncolors or 256
    if not isinstance(cmap, Colormap):
        import matplotlib.cm as cm
        # Alias bokeh Category cmaps with mpl tab cmaps
        if cmap.startswith('Category'):
            cmap = cmap.replace('Category', 'tab')
        try:
            cmap = cm.get_cmap(cmap)
        except:
            cmap = cm.get_cmap(cmap.lower())
    if isinstance(cmap, ListedColormap):
        if categorical:
            palette = [rgb2hex(cmap.colors[i%cmap.N]) for i in range(ncolors)]
            return palette
        elif cmap.N > ncolors:
            palette = [rgb2hex(c) for c in cmap(np.arange(cmap.N))]
            if len(palette) != ncolors:
                palette = [palette[int(v)] for v in np.linspace(0, len(palette)-1, ncolors)]
            return palette
    return [rgb2hex(c) for c in cmap(np.linspace(0, 1, ncolors))]