Shrubs, shrublets, sometimes with single stems from perennial rootstocks, often glaucous
Leaves simple, alternate, rarely opposite
Flowers yellow, solitary, or in short, axillary or terminal racemes, or sometimes capitate; bracts foliaceous or 0
Calyx with campanulate tube, usually with lowest lobe narrowest, rarely lobes subequal
Petals: vexillum suborbicular, sometimes bilobed, subsessile or clawed; wings falcate-oblong or oblong, clawed; keel incurved, clawed, sometimes gibbous
Stamens monadelphous, unequal; tube usually long; anthers unequal, linear and elliptic
Ovary sessile or stalked, 2-many-ovuled, glabrous; style incurved with small, capitate stigma
Pod linear or lanceolate, compressed
Seeds estrophiolate
Nomenclature:
Rafnia Thunb.
Thunberg: 144 (1800)
Harvey: 31(1862)
Distribution & Notes:
Southern Africa: Species ± 22, mostly Western Cape from Clanwilliam, extending eastwards through Eastern Cape into KwaZulu-Natal
References:
HARVEY, W.H. 1862. Leguminosae. Flora capensis 2
THUNBERG, C.P. 1800. Genera nova plantarum II. 10. Edman, Uppsala
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Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
The system is still under development, so you may find a few bugs/issues. If you do, please report it via the error reporting button available in various sections of the website or provide us with any useful feedback you may have via the ‘Give us feedback’ option available in the sidebar menu. You can create a free account for yourself by clicking on the user profile icon which will take you through to the login page. Here you can choose the ‘Create an account’ option or simply fill in your details if you have an account already. Having an account on Biodiversity Advisor will provide users with free access to biodiversity resources.
In future, Team SANBI will be able to log in using their day-to-day login details, BGIS users will be able to use their existing accounts and details, and general users will be able to log in using their LinkedIn profile, but for now you will need to create an account.
