diff --git a/hvplot/converter.py b/hvplot/converter.py
index 9f15b40d6..0d225a94a 100644
--- a/hvplot/converter.py
+++ b/hvplot/converter.py
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@
     process_derived_datetime_pandas,
     _convert_col_names_to_str,
     import_datashader,
-    _mpl_cmap,
+    is_mpl_cmap,
 )
 from .utilities import hvplot_extension
 
@@ -1486,8 +1486,12 @@ def _process_style(self, kwds, plot_opts):
         if 'color' in style_opts:
             color = style_opts['color']
         elif not isinstance(cmap, dict):
-            if (isinstance(cmap, str) or _mpl_cmap(cmap)) and any(
-                c in getattr(cmap, 'name', cmap) for c in categorical_cmaps
+            # Checks if any of the categorical cmaps matches cmap;
+            # uses any() instead of `cmap in categorical_cmaps` to handle reversed colormaps (suffixed with `_r`).
+            # If cmap is LinearSegmentedColormap, get the name attr, else return the str typed cmap.
+            if (isinstance(cmap, str) or is_mpl_cmap(cmap)) and any(
+                categorical_cmap in getattr(cmap, 'name', cmap)
+                for categorical_cmap in categorical_cmaps
             ):
                 color = process_cmap(cmap or self._default_cmaps['categorical'], categorical=True)
             else:
diff --git a/hvplot/util.py b/hvplot/util.py
index 7c4c74661..db347c608 100644
--- a/hvplot/util.py
+++ b/hvplot/util.py
@@ -752,7 +752,7 @@ def relabel_redim(hv_obj, relabel_kwargs, redim_kwargs):
     return hv_obj
 
 
-def _mpl_cmap(obj):
+def is_mpl_cmap(obj):
     """Check if the object is a Matplotlib LinearSegmentedColormap."""
     if 'matplotlib' not in sys.modules:
         return False