Details
| Full name | Tradescantia hirta ‘Swifttale’. |
| Name status | Accepted, the valid name for a unique cultivar. Listed online by Dirk van der Werff’s Plants (2004), and established by Rowe (2025). Also known as:
‘Swifttale’ is the oldest name and not trademarked, so is now accepted for this cultivar. |
| Origins | Unknown. |
| Classification | It is classified as the species Tradescantia hirta based on observed traits. The species is sometimes known by its botanical synonym Setcreasea hirsuta. It is also sometimes incorrectly labelled as Tradescantia hirsuta (Esveld, 2022), which is actually a botanical synonym for a different species, Elasis hirsuta (POWO, 2022). |
| Legal protection | None. |
| Availability | Available from some nurseries in Europe. |
Description
Preserved in a herbarium specimen (“Tradescantia hirta ‘Swifttale'”, 2023).
Described with reference to the RHS Colour Chart (6th Edition: 2019 reprint).
| Species | Tradescantia hirta. |
| Growth habit | Clump-forming perennial which dies back to its tuberous roots in difficult conditions. |
| Foliage | Stems are 3-7mm thick with internodes 1-8cm long, strong yellow green (144B to 143B) to moderate reddish brown (177A) on flowering stalks. Leaves are narrow and grass-like, 10-20cm long and 0.5-1.5cm wide, held with the margins curled in over the upper surface. Upper and lower surfaces are moderate green (138A) to pale green (138C). Sheaths are light yellow green (145C) to strong yellow green (144B). The leaf undersides are scattered with long white hairs. |
| Flowers | 30-35mm across. Petals are strong reddish purple (N78A). Stamens are yellow, with purple filaments. Stigma is white with a purple style. |
| Comparisons | Compared to ‘Ojo Caliente’, flowers are slightly larger, leaves are very slightly longer and narrower, and foliage is more hairy. |
References
Dirk van der Werff’s Plants. (2004). Setcreasea hirsuta ‘Swifttale’. Internet Archive link.
Royal Horticultural Society. (2014). RHS Plant Finder 2014.
Brickell, C. D., Alexander, C., Cubey, J. J., David, J. C., Hoffman, M. H. A., Leslie, A. C., Malécot, V., Jin, X. (2016). International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants. PDF link.
Esveld. (2022). Tradescantia hirsuta ‘Swifttale’. Internet Archive link.
POWO. (2022). Tradescantia hirsuta. Plants of the World Online. Link.
Tradescantia hirta ‘Swifttale’. (2023). [Herbarium specimen, barcode WSY0168552]. RHS Wisley Herbarium.
Rowe, A. (2025). Compiling the first Tradescantia cultivar checklist. HortScience, 60(9); 1534-1542. Open access link.