plant named ‘LEEIGHT’

Latin name of the genus and species:

Variety denomination: ‘LEEIGHT’.

The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program by the inventor with the intention to developcultivars with superior stable leaf variegation. This new variety, hereinafter referred to as ‘LEEIGHT’, was found as the result of an open-pollination conducted between approximately 2014 and 2018. The inventor established crossing blocks of proprietary, unpatented seedlings ofxwhich he had selected from a 2012 crossing. The inventor discovered the unique seedling in Independence, Louisiana, at a research nursery during 2018.

After identifying the new variety as a potentially interesting selection, the inventor first propagated ‘LEEIGHT’ by semi-hardwood cuttings during Fall of 2018 at the same nursery in Independence, Louisiana. The inventor continued confidential, controlled testing and propagation, assessing stability of the unique characteristics of this variety. Multiple generations have been reproduced and have shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.

The cultivar ‘LEEIGHT’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, day length, and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype. The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of ‘LEEIGHT’ These characteristics in combination distinguish ‘LEEIGHT’ as a new and distinctcultivar:

The parent varieties are unidentified.

‘LEEIGHT’ can be compared to the commercial variety‘Variegata’, unpatented. Plants of the new cultivar ‘LEEIGHT’ are similar to plants of ‘Variegata’ in most horticultural characteristics, however, plants of the new cultivar ‘LEEIGHT’ differ in the following:

‘LEEIGHT’ can be compared to the commercial variety‘Mystery Variegated’, unpatented. Plants of the new cultivar ‘LEEIGHT’ are similar to plants of ‘Mystery Variegated’ in most horticultural characteristics, however, plants of the new cultivar ‘LEEIGHT’ differ in the following:

The plant is approximately 2 years old, and is shown in a three-gallon container. The photographs were taken using conventional techniques and although colors may appear different from actual colors due to light reflectance it is as accurate as possible by conventional photographic techniques.

In the following description, color references are made to The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart 2015 except where general terms of ordinary dictionary significance are used. The following observations and measurements describe ‘LEEIGHT’ plants grown outdoors in Loxley, Alabama. Plants are approximately 2 years old, in a 5-gallon nursery container. Measurements and numerical values represent averages of typical plant types.