Abies alba 'Aurea' is a moderately fast-growing, upright tree form of European silver fir that begins each spring with a golden flush of new growth, that darkens to species-typical dark green with silver undersides later in the season. In the landscape, mature plants will measure 10 to 12 feet (3 - 4 m) tall and 2-thirds as wide, an annual growth rate of 6 to 12 inches (15 - 30 cm).
[ Auders & Spicer in RHS Encyclopedia of Conifers ] a slow-growing upright plant with bright golden yellow new growth that remains yellow only in places later, otherwise green. In ten years 40 inches (1 m) tall and wide. A very rare but unstable cultivar.
This is an old cultivar that has existed in large gardens in Europe since the mid-1860s. J. Nelson named and described it in 1866 in Pinaceae: being a handbook of the firs and pines. To date, it is fairly new to the United States.
