Rafnia racemosa subsp. racemosa

Rafnia racemosa subsp. racemosa is either a vigorous shrub growing multiple stems from a woody rootstock to heights around 1,5 m, or a low-growing, spreading shrublet reaching 20 cm.

The simple, alternate leaves are short-stalked. The leaf-shape is elliptic, the smooth, grey-green blades from 4,5 cm to 6 cm long.

The flowers grow in stem-tip racemes, averaging about 12 flowers in an inflorescence. Bracts and bracteoles are present below the calyces that have unequal, triangular lobes.

The yellow, peaflower-like corollas are about 15 mm long on pedicels of about 5 mm. The clawed banner petals are ovate to broadly elliptic. The wing petals are oblong, longer than the beak-like keels, both also clawed.

The fruits are obliquely lanceolate pods with convex lower and straight upper margins. The seeds are oblong to kidney-shaped.

The subspecies distribution is in the east of the Western Cape, in the Little Karoo from Montagu to Willowmore and to the south near Swellendam. The photo was taken in the Swartberg Mountains.

The habitat is upper fynbos, renosterveld and scrub slopes. The subspecies is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).