RAFNIA (named in honour of C. G. Rafn, a Danish botanist, who wrote a Flora of Denmark, in 1796). ORD. Leguminosae. A genus comprising twenty-two species of glabrous, and often glaucous, greenhouse shrubs or sub-shrubs, confined to South Africa. Flowers yellow, solitary or shortly racemose, terminal or in the axils of bracts; calyx unequally five-cleft, the lowest segment narrowest; corolla glabrous; standard roundish; keel incurved, rostrate or obliquely truncate. Pods linear or lanceolate. Leaves simple, entire, one-nerved or reticulate-veined. The species, a selection of which is given below, thrive in a compost of fibry loam and sandy peat, with the addition of pieces of charcoal and broken pots, to keep the whole rough. Attention to drainage is an important point. Propagation may be effected, at the beginning of summer, by cuttings of firm side shoots, inserted in sand, and covered with a bell glass; or, in spring, by seeds, sown on a hotbed. RAFNIA angulata (angular-branched). fl., upper and lateral calyx lobes nearly as long as the calyx tube or somewhat longer; flowering branchlets forked. May. l. 3/4in. to 1 1/2in long, oblong, cuneate, lanceolate, linear-lanceolate, or linear-filiform, sub-obtuse or acute. Branchlets angular. h. 1ft. to 1 1/2ft. 1816. Sub-shrub. SYN. RAFNIA filifolia. RAFNIA elliptica (elliptic-leaved). fl., peduncles axillary, one-flowered, with a pair of leafy bracts under the flower. June. l. 2in. to 3in. long, broadly obovate, elliptical, oblong, or ovate-lanceolate, acute or obtuse and mucronate; upper ones narrow and more lanceolate, all narrowed at base. Branches angular. h. 1ft. to 3ft. 1819. Shrub. RAFNIA filifolia (thread-leaved). A synonym of RAFNIA angulata. RAFNIA triflora (three-flowered).* fl., keel about twice as long as the calyx tube; peduncles axillary, one to three together, leafless, or branched and leaf-bearing. June. l. 1 1/2in. to 3in. long, roundish-obovate, elliptical or ovate-lanceolate, acute or mucronulate, obtuse at base. Branches angular or two-edged. h. 2ft. to 4ft. 1784. Shrub. (B. M. 482, under name of Crotalaria triflora.)