Pretty Kitty

Pretty Kitty is a Matt’s Peppers hybrid commonly described as Calico × Mutant. The cross is circulated in the variegated and mutant pepper niche where phenotype variation is a major part of the appeal. Grower reports describe plants ranging from strongly variegated to nearly plain green depending on how the genetics express in a given plant.

The Calico parent contributes variegated foliage traits and ornamental colouring, while the Mutant parent comes from the filiform mutant line originally discovered by Rauno (“bluesman”) in Finland. That mutant lineage is known for producing thin, twisted, or otherwise unusual leaf forms, which explains why some plants in this cross show curly, narrow, or irregular foliage.

Grower descriptions commonly mention bright foliage colours and abnormal leaf shapes appearing in some plants, while others may remain mostly green with little variegation. Because the cross is part of a hobby breeding line rather than a stabilised cultivar, visual variation between plants is expected.

The pods typically develop from dark purple to nearly black when immature and then ripen to red. Heat estimates are inconsistent but generally described as mild to moderate. One grower description places it roughly in the 10 000–30 000 SHU range, so 20 000 SHU is used here as a central single-number estimate. The actual heat can vary depending on the phenotype expressed in a given plant.