waterleaf

English

Talinum fruticosum, eaten as a vegetable in tropical regions

Alternative forms

• water-leaf

Etymology

From water +‎ leaf.

Noun

waterleaf (plural waterleafs or waterleaves)

1. (botany) Any plant of the genus Hydrophyllum.
2. (botany) Any plant of Hydrophyllaceae, the waterleaf family.
3. A tropical plant (Talinum fruticosum), the leaves of which are eaten as a vegetable.
   • 2023, Stephen Buoro, The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa, Bloomsbury Circus, page 19:

     ‘I like how the onions and waterleaf are slightly raw. They spice the egusi nicely, very nicely.’

4. (architecture) A leaf-shaped decoration used on the capitals of columns in late 12th-century Romanesque architecture
5. (paper technology) An absorbent unsized paper, somewhat like blotter paper.

Synonyms

• (tropical plant the leaves of which are eaten as a vegetable): cariru, Ceylon spinach, Florida spinach, Lagos bologi, potherb fameflower, Philippine spinach, Surinam purslane, sweetheart

Derived terms

• ballhead waterleaf, ball-headed waterleaf
• blunt-leaf waterleaf, bluntleaf waterleaf
• Brown's waterleaf
• dwarf waterleaf
• Fendler's waterleaf
• great waterleaf
• largeleaf waterleaf
• Pacific waterleaf
• Virginia waterleaf
• waterleaf capital
• western waterleaf

Translations

Talinum fruticosum

• Dutch: postelein (nl) m (Suriname)
• Kari'na: sakusaku
• Sranan Tongo: posren

Anagrams

• water flea, waterflea