Purple Tiger

Purple Tiger is a United States heirloom Capsicum annuum grown both as an ornamental and as an edible chilli, and it is also widely circulated under the names Trifetti and Variegata. Its main appeal is the combination of variegated foliage and colourful fruit, which made it popular as a patio, windowsill, and container plant rather than only as a kitchen pepper.

The plant is compact to medium in size, usually around 30 to 65 cm tall depending on growing conditions and pot size, with a spreading to open bush habit. The foliage is strongly variegated in green, white, and purple, and that tri-coloured leaf pattern is one of the defining features of the variety.

Its pods are small and ornamental, generally about 2 to 2.5 cm long and about 1.5 cm wide, with rounded to short oval or stumpy shapes. The fruit starts green, develops deep purple colouring that can show striping or mixed tones, and then ripens fully to bright red. This changing fruit colour against the variegated foliage is what gives Purple Tiger its strongest visual identity.

Purple Tiger is usually described as mild to medium hot, with heat commonly placed around 2,500 to 10,000 SHU and often centred around 5,000 SHU. Although it is frequently grown for appearance, it is also treated as a proper culinary pepper, used fresh and in dishes where a smaller ornamental chilli with moderate heat is useful.

Its documented online circulation goes back at least to 10 July 2006, when a grower posted a Purple Tiger plant on a windowsill grow log. By later seed trade listings it was already firmly established as a recognised ornamental-edible heirloom from the United States, and it has remained one of the better-known variegated annuum types in hobby chilli growing.