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XL. Some Account of the Melidora Pellucida, of Noronha, 

 a beautiful Evergreen Shrub from China. By Richard 

 Anthony Salisbury, Esq. F. R. S. fyc. Secretary. 



Read April 5, 1814. 



In the charter, which our gracious King has granted to us, 

 we are denominated a Society " for the Improvement of " 

 " Horticulture in all its branches, ornamental as well as " 

 " useful ;" and in his own royal garden at Kew, during the 

 last forty years, his Majesty has set an example to all his 

 subjects, of progressive excellence in every department of 

 that delightful science. But though useful productions may 

 justly claim a decided preference to such as are merely 

 ornamental, 1 trust that the latter will never be totally ex- 

 cluded from the pages of our Transactions; and when- 

 ever a curious exotic, of more than common beauty, is 

 introduced, and first flowers in this country (especially if it 

 be so hardy as to thrive in the open air, or with a trifling 

 degree of protection from frost,) I think it my duty to give 

 some account of it to this Society, together with such 

 information respecting its culture, as will be necessary for a 

 gardener to possess, who may have ocasion to cultivate it. 



The shrub, which I have selected this year, as being par- 

 ticularly worthy of your attention, is the Melidora Pellucida 

 of Noronha, a Spanish botanist. I received flowers and 

 fruits of it which he sent to Mexico, from the Marquis 

 d'ApARTADo, and his brother, Viscount Fagoaga, two very 

 intelligent noblemen of that country ; and upon the paper 



