Aurea

origin not known, pre-1886

‘Aurea’, S. emodi
origin not known pre-1886; S I
syn. – emodi var. aurea, ‘Emodi Aurea’
Carrière in Rev. Hort. 547 [1886]; McKelvey, The Lilac, 25-26 [1928]; Wister, Lilacs for America, 44, 47 [1942], 25, 29 [1953]; Photo on Jorgovani/Lilacs 2015 DVD.
Cultivar name presumed registered 1953; name established and accepted.

Международный регистр названий культиваров
рода Syringa L., сентябрь 2024

Aurea Baudriller, Cat. no. 43, 141 (1880), “Nouveauté à feuilles toutes dorées, ” and as Lilas commun doré. — Van Houtte, Cat. no. 225-L, 42 (1887-1888), name only. Späth, Cat. no. 76, 122 (1889-1890), name only. — Rehder in Möller’s Deutsch. Gärtn.Zeit. XIV. 206 (1899), as aurea Hort. (fol. aureis Hort.). – Beissner, Schelle and Zabel, Handb. Laubholz-Ben. 413 (1903). – Lingelsheim in Engler, Pflanzenr. IV. 243, pt. I-II. 89 (1920).
Oudin (Cat. 1845-1846, 6) mentions, as a name only, a Lilas à feuilles dorées and later (Cat. 1849-1850, 6) adds the description “Fleurs bleu porcelaine; très-beau.” Ellwanger and Barry (Cat. no. 2, 43, 1867-1868) list a Lilac (Syringa) Gold leaved, with “Flowers light purple; very large yellowish green foliage.” Under the name S. vulgaris foliis aureis they again (Cat. no. 2, 72, 1875) give the same description. Parsons (Cat. 1889, 49), as a name only, lists a S. vulgaris foliis aureis (Golden Leaved Lilac), All these are probably the same as the form Aurea.
Späth attributes this to Van Houtte. A letter of November 27, 1924, from the Van Houtte firm tells me that they can give me no information as to its origin. Rehder notes that it is of more value than the forms S. vulgaris fol. Variegatis [= Variegata] and S. vulgaris fol. albo marginatis [= Albo-marginata].
Whether this form was at one time distinguished from that called Aureo-variegata is uncertain; the two were probably much alike. Undoubtedly some of the plants noted under the form Variegata may be referred to this form. As distinguished here this form is considered to have had foliage tinged throughout with yellow rather than merely marked or mottled with that color. See also the forms Aureo-variegata and Variegata.
Notes on plant in Dept, of Parks, Rochester, N. Y. (received from Späth in 1892). Flowers single, medium size; corolla-lobes exceptionally narrow, almost filiform, cucullate; anthers conspicuous; tone pale; color in bud Light Russet-Vinaccous (XXXIX.) to Tourmaline Pink to Pale Laelia Pink (XXXVIII.); when expanded Pale Laelia pink (XXXVIII.) without, Light Lobelia Violet on Pale Lobelia Violet (XXXVII.) within. Clusters long, narrow, open. The foliage has merely a yellowish tinge. The plant is more curious than beautiful and remarkable because of its narrow corolla-lobes rather than because of its foliage.

“THE LILAC: A Monograph” Susan Delano McKelvey,
MacMillan, New York, 1928