R A F 



of Caraccas ; 40 miles S. of Caraccai. — Alfo, a town of 

 South America, in the province of Moxes ; 210 miles E. 

 of Santa Cruz dc la Sierra la Nueva. — Alfo, a town of New 

 Navarre; 105 miles S.W. of Cafa Grande. 



RAFAH, a town of Egypt ; 57 miles N.E. of Catieh. 



RAFALSO, a fmall iiland in the gulf of Finland. N. 

 lat. 60° 20'. E. long. 26'" 12'. 



RAFFAELLE da Urbino, in Biography. See 

 Raphael. 



RAFFLING, a fort of game with three dice, in which 

 he who throws the greateft pair, or pair royal, in three calls, 

 wins the pri/.e or ftake. 



The word probably comes from the bafc Latin, r'lejlare, 

 to rifle, plunder, take all aivay. 



The raffle is properly the doublet or triplet : a raffle of 

 aces, or duces, carries it againll mere points. 



Raffling is alfo ufed when a company of ])erfons club 

 to tlii? purchafe of a commodity, or make fmall dcpofits, 

 amounting in the whole to its full value ; and he that throws 

 the higheft on three dice, or who has the highcit number by 

 means of balls thrown on a bagatelle or porto-bello table, 

 takes it. 



RAFICA, in Geography, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in 

 the government of Diarbekir ; three miles S. of Raca. 



RAFLUNDA, a town of Sweden, in the province of 

 Skone ; 17 miles S. of Chriilianftadt. 



RAFNIA, in Botany, a genus of plants, feparated from 

 the Linnxan Crotalaria and Liparia, augmented with feveral 

 new fpccies from the Cape, and named by its author, pro- 

 feflbr Thunberg, in the fecond part of the preface to his 

 Prodromus Plantarum Capenfium. De Theis is completely 

 in the dark as to the perfon commemorated in tliis name, 

 who can be no other than Mr. C. G- Rafn of Copenhagen, 

 author of a Flora of Denmark and Holftein, in the Danifh 

 language, publidied in the years 1796 and 1800, in oftavo, 

 making two volumes, which include the firft ten clafTes of 

 the Linnasan fyftem. We know not whether any more has 

 appeared. The fame botanift has written a work on the 

 phyfiology of plants ; and feveral papers for the Academy 

 of Sciences at Copenhagen. See Sims and Konig's Ann. 

 of Bot. v. I. 6 — Thunb. Prodr. 123. pra;f. n. 48. Willd. 

 Sp. PI. v. 3. 949. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 4. 261. — Clafs and 

 order, D'ladelph'ta Decandr'ia. Nat. Ord. Papilionacen, 

 Linn. Legum'inofit, JufT. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, bell- 

 fliaped, five-cleft, ringent ; the upper lip in two broadifh 

 diftant fcgments ; lower divaricated, in three acute ones, 

 the middle one fmalleit. Cor. Papilionaceous. Standard 

 large, heart-fhaped, acute, fpreading, depreffod at the fides. 

 Wings ovate, about half as long as the ftandard. Keel 

 acute, the length of the wings. Stam. Filaments ten, all 

 united into a linear tube, fplit along the bafe ; five of them 

 rather the fhorteft ; anthers fimple. P'ljl. Germen ftalked, 

 linear ; flyle fimple, bent upwards at nearly a right angle ; 

 ftigma obtufe. Perk. Legume ftalked, oblong-lanceolate, 

 comprefled, of one cell and two valves. Seeds feveral, 

 ftalked, roundifli-kidney-ftiaped. 



Efl. Ch. Stamens all united. Ca}yx ringent ; upper lip 

 divided ; lower divaricated, in three fegmcnts, the middle 

 one fmalleft. Legume ftalked, lanceolate, compreded. 



Obf. The firft fpecies in Willdenow, perfoliata, Crotalaria 

 ptrfnliata of Linnxus, figured in Smith's Infefts of Georgia, 

 y. 2. t. 67, is Baptifia perfoliata of Brown, in Ait. Hort. 

 Kew. v. 3. 5, a genus adopted from Ventenat, and belong- 

 JHg to tlie Decandria Monogynia. 



I. R. amplexicaulis. Orbicular Rafnia. Th\nib. Prodr. 

 J33. Willd. n. 2. (Crotalaria amplexicaulis ; Linn. Sp, 



R A I- 



PI. 1003. Genilta perfoliata, orbieulatisfoliis ; Seb. The- 

 faur. V. I. t. 24. f. 5. Linn.) — Leaves reticulated, orbicular, 

 clafpmg the ftcm, alternate ; tlie floral ones oppofite, co- 

 loured.— Native of the Cape of Good Hope. A fmooth, 

 handfome, hrancheA Jhrub, clothed w'ith entire leavei, from 

 one to two inches acrofs, finely reticulated with innumerable 

 vems; the upper ones, which accompany ^hvfonuers, fmaller, 

 and pale ycllowifli. Flowers folitary, nearly feflile, yellow, 

 fmaller than the floral leaves. 



2. R. eUiptica. Elliptical Rafnia. Thunb. ibid. Willd. 



n. 3, excluding the reference to Andrews Leaves flightly 



veined, elliptic-ovate, acute, alternate ; the floral ones op- 

 pofite, not longer than the flowers Native of the Cape. 



Confounded by Linnxus with the foregoing, from which it 

 difl'ers in having mucli fmaller kavcs, fefTile, not clafping the 

 ftem, quite deftitutc of reticulated veins. Flowers of a 

 deeper yellow, as long as the floral leaves. 



3. R. cuneifolia. Wedge-leaved Rafnia. Thunb. ib, 



Willd. n. 4. (Spartium ovatum ; Berg. Cap. 197.) 



Leaves obovate, fomewhat wedge-fliaped. Branches au- 

 gular. Flowers raccmofe, terminal. — From the fame coun- 

 try. Stem arborefcent. Branches rather angular, Itriated, 

 fmooth. Leaves numerous, alternate, ovate, pointed, fuc- 

 culent, fmooth, above an inch long ; contrafted at the bafe, 

 and tapering down into hroddfoo^alis. Flowers purphfti- 

 yellow, in terminal, corymbofe clufters. Bergius. 



4. R. tr'iflora. Three-flowered Rafnia. Thunb. ib. 

 Willd. n. 5. Ait..n. I. Venten. Malmaif. t. 48. (Cro- 

 talaria trifiora ; Linn. Sp. Pi. 1004. Curt. Mag. t. 482. 

 Borbonia cordata ; Andr. Repof. t. 31, excluding the fyno- 

 nym.) — Leaves ovate, fmooth. Branches angular. Stalks 

 fingle-flowered, three together. - Native of the Cape, where 

 it was gathered by Sparrmann and Thunberg, and from 

 whence its feeds were fent to Kew garden, in 1786, by Mr. 

 Francis Maffon. The plant is bieimial, requiring to be fliel- 

 tered in winter, and flowering in June and July. Stem 

 branched, about a yard high, moft leafy in the upper part, 

 fmooth, and of a glaucous green, as well as the leaves, 

 which are numerous, alternate, almoft fefhle, more or lefs 

 ovate, but varying in fize and breadth. Flotvers abundant 

 at the fummits of the branches, large, yellow, axillary, 

 ftalked, three together, the floral leaves fmaller than the 

 reft, and often tinged with purple. 



5. R. eppofua. Oppofite-leaved Rafnia. Thunb. ib. 

 Willd. n. 6. (Crotalaria oppofita ; Linn. Supp!. 322. 

 Liparia oppofita; Linn. SyiL Veg. ed. 13.554. Spartium 

 capenfc ; Sp. PI. 995. Cytifus capenfis ; Berg. Cap. 217.) 

 — Leaves eUiptic-lanceolate ; the upper ones moftly oppo- 

 fite. Flowers lateral, on fliort folitary ftalks Native of 



the Cape, apparently unknown in our gardens. Linnxus 

 and his fon confounded many different things under this fpe- 

 cies, fome of which being marked in their herbarium as 

 having been gathered by Thunberg, we prefume to be 

 among thofe he has defined ; yet it is not poflible to deter- 

 mine them all by his fliort charadfers, feveral of which un- 

 fortunately contradift the fpecific names. The Jlem of the 

 prefent is defcribed by the younger Linnxus as fimple, he 

 confidering as Jlo-wer-Jlalhs the copious, alternate, leafy 

 branches, three or four inches long, on which one or two 

 pair of the lower leaves are oppofite ; the proper floral 

 leaves, like thofe of the ftem, being alternate : all the leaves 

 are elliptic-lanceolate, or fomewhat obovate, acute, entire, 

 lingle-rihbed, an inch or more in length. Flotuers either- 

 lateral or axillary, among the uppermoft leaves, folitarv, 

 each on a (im-p\ejlali about the length of its calyx. Corolla 

 yellow, not half fo large as the laft fpecies. 



6. R. axillaris. Axillary Rafnia. Thunb. ib. WiUd. 



U u 2 n. 7. 



