Waterleaf is the succulent foliage of Talinum fruticosum, a soft, fast-growing tropical herb whose thick, watery leaves cook down to a slippery, mild green. Known in Nigeria as gbure (Yoruba) and as a common efo (soup green), it is a staple of West and Central African kitchens, prized less for strong flavour than for the tender, mucilaginous body it lends to soups and stews — often cooked alongside sharper greens.