matplotlib numbers in legend

I have a couple of lines and I want to show a legend. The problem is, I can't use different styles (--, :, -.) because there are too few of them, and I can't use markers (+, *, etc.) because I need them to show some points on the lines.

So the best idea I've come up with is to use numbers. But I can't figure how I can create legends with numbers. I can even draw numbers near lines myself (to place them in the best position), but how can I开发者_开发知识库 then draw a legend with the numbers?

I.e. instead of:

--  H
-.- Li

I'd like something like:

1  H
2  Li

Perhaps a little Latex thrown into the mix?

#In which we make a legend; not with lines, but numbers!

import pylab as pl
pl.rc('text', usetex=True)

pl.figure(1)
pl.clf()
ax = pl.subplot(111)
pl.plot(range(0,10), 'k', label = r'\makebox[25]{1\hfill}Bla')
pl.plot(range(1,11), 'k', label = r'\makebox[25]{12\hfill}Bla12')
lgd = pl.legend(handlelength = -0.4)
for k in lgd.get_lines():
k.set_linewidth(0)
pl.draw()
pl.show()

The numbers/labels are aligned by using \makebox with specific width and \hfill to take up the space not used by your labels. Numbers are not automatic, but if you use a loop to draw your lines then you could add a counter to keep track of the numbers.

Don't know if this is part of your requirement, but the lines are removed by setting their linewidth to 0 and making the space reserved in the legend negative. Couldn't find a neater way of doing this as I believe a legend is always meant to show a line (e.g. you can't set numpoints to 0).

You could of course also just add some text in the right spot in your plot and not use a legend at all.