Stevia Cultivar '16265046'

A method of introducing a desired trait into stevia cultivar ‘16265046’, wherein the method comprises:

• a. crossing a ‘16265046’ plant, wherein a representative sample of plant tissue of said plant was deposited under CGMCC No. 16983, with a plant of another stevia cultivar that comprises a desired trait to produce progeny plants wherein the desired trait is selected from the group consisting of male sterility, herbicide resistance, insect resistance, modified carbohydrate metabolism, modified stevioside content, modified Rebaudioside content, modified stevia fiber characteristics, and resistance to bacterial disease, fungal disease or viral disease;
• b. selecting one or more progeny plants that have the desired trait to produce selected progeny plants;
• c. crossing the selected progeny plants with the ‘16265046’ plants to produce backcross progeny plants;
• d. selecting for backcross progeny plants that have the desired trait and the physiological and morphological characteristics of stevia cultivar ‘16265046’ listed in Table 1 to produce selected backcross progeny plants;
• and
• e. repeating steps (c) and (d) two or more times in succession to produce selected fourth or higher backcross progeny plants that comprise the desired trait and the physiological and morphological characteristics of stevia cultivar ‘16265046’ listed in Table 1.