Gen info
- Finlaysonia is a genus of flowering plants in the dogbane family Apocynaceae. They tend to be vines or climbers, preferring to live on limestone, alongside rivers, or in mangrove swamps.
- Etymology: The genus name Finlaysonia commemorates George Finlayson (1790-1823), a surgeon and naturalist. The specific epithet obovata derives from Latin ob, reverse, and ovatus, egg-shaped, referring to the lamina of the leaf blade that is drop-shaped with a broad distal end and narrow proximal end.
- The fruits appear like pair of horns, meaning "goat's horn," hence, the name "Kalak kambing."

Botany
• Growth form: It is a slender, woody climber with papery bark. White latex exudes from the injured plant parts. Foliage: Opposite, thickly stalked leaves have fleshy leaf blades that are usually drop-shaped, 5–13 by 2.5–6.4 cm, and borne on drooping branchlets. The leaf blades have wedge-shaped bases, and rounded, or very short, narrowed tips. Flowers: Fetid flowers are dull yellow with or without a purplish tinge in the center and covered with white hair. The flowers are found on shortly-stalked, branched clusters up to 7.6 cm long at the leaf axils. Fruit: Ribbed fruits are fleshy green pods, and 7.6 by 5 cm, with hooked tips. Each fruit contains numerous brown seeds that are flat, oblong-drop-shaped, slightly covered with hair along the edges, with a short tuft of hair at one end, and about 2 cm long. (Flora & Fauna Web)

• Woody liana with white latex, up to 5 m long, bark papery. Leaf-blade obovate-oblong to elliptical, 4-15 cm × 2-8 cm, coriaceous, glabrous; petiole 1-2 cm long. Fruit a widely divergent pair of follicles; follicle ovoid, 5-8 cm long, ribbed, hooked acuminate at apex. (PROSEA) (5)

Distribution
- Native to the Philippines. (3) (4)
- In Leyte, Mindor, Panay; in Luzon: Quezon, Zambales. In thickets along the seashore in swampy places, often in mangrove along tidal streams. (4)
- Also native to Andaman Is., Bangladesh, Caroline Is., India, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Northern Territory, Queensland, Thailand, Vietnam. (3)

Constituents
- GC-MS analysis of hexane, chloroform, and alcohol extracts of leaves revealed presence of triterpenes and hydrocarbons as major constituents. Fatty acid composition of leaves by FAME analysis revealed palmitic acid as major constituents (54.65%), along with two important polyunsaturated fatty acids i.e., linoleic acid (1.54%) and 9,11-octadecadienoic acid (3.25%). (see study below) (6)
- Fractionation and screening of highly active chloroform extract isolated for the first time from this plant the triterpene acid Urs-3ß-hydroxy-12-en-27-oic acid, along with known compounds: lupeol acetate (1) and ß-sitosterol (2). (10)
- Study of a chloroform extract of Finlaysonia obovata isolated a deoxy lupane triterpene carboxylic acid, lup-20 (29)-en-24-oic. (The compound has shown moderate antimicrobial activity against some fish pathogens) (8)

Properties
- Leaves exude a white sap when broken.
- Studies have suggested antibacterial properties.

Parts used
Roots, leaves.

Uses
Edibility
- In the Moluccas salty leaves are eaten raw or eaten in salads.
Folkloric
- No reported folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.
- In Bangladesh, folk medical practitioners use the roots of F. obovata for treatment of headache: Dried roots of F. obovata and Tamarindus indica, plus roots of Bambusa vulgaris that sprout along its nodes, are put in a bag following drying and tied to the head. Another polyherbal formulation containing F. obovata along with roots of Phyllanthus reticulata and Musa paradisiaca is taken orally for treatment of diarrhea in children. (9)
Others
- Host: It is a larval host plant of blue tiger and dark blue tiger butterflies. (3)

Studies
• Antibacterial / Leaves: Study of evaluated the antibacterial activity of hexane, chloroform, and alcohol extracts of leaves of F. obovata against fresh water fish pathogenic bacteria viz., Aeromonas hydrophila, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Vibrio alginolyticus, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Edwarsiella tarda and Micrococcus sp (multidrug-resistant strain) by disc assay method. The hexane and chloroform extracts showed activity against four and five pathogens, respectively. (see constituents above) (6)

Availability
- Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Finlaysonia / Wikipedia
(2)
Finlaysonia obovata / National Parks: FLORA & FAUNA WEB
(3)
Finlaysonia obovata / KEW: Plants of the World Online
(4)
Apocynaceae: Finlaysonia obovata / Co's Digital Flora Database
(5)
Finlaysonia obovata / PROSEA: Plant Resources of South-East Asia
(6)
Antibacterial Activity and GCMS Analysis of the Extract of Leaves of Finlaysonia obovata (A Mangrove Plant) / Pravat Manjari Mishra, A Sree / Asian Journal of Plant Sciences, 2007; 6(1): pp 168-172 /
DOI: 10.3923/ajps.2007.168.172
(7)
Kalak Kambing (Finlaysonia obovata) / Ron Yeo / The Tide Chaser
(8)
Isolation of a deoxy lupane triterpene carboxylic acid from Finlaysonia obovata (a mangrove plant) / Pravat Manjari Mishra, A Sree, Bandita Dash, Mallika Panigrahi, Susanta Kumar Padhan / Fitoterapia, 2010; 81(8): pp 977-981 / DOI: 10.1016/j.fitote.2010.06.016
(9)
Phytotherapeutic practices of a rural female folk medicinal practitioner in Bangladesh / Shornaly Akter, Ismut Jahan, Mohammed Rahmatullah et al / Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research, 2016; 8(8): pp 795-798 / ISSN: 0975-7384
(10)
Chemical investigation of Finlaysonia obovata: part I  – a rare triterpene acid showing antibacterial activity against fish pathogens / Pravat Manjari Mishra / A Sree / Natural product Research, 2008; 22(9): pp 801-807 / DOI: 10.1080/14786410701640403

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