thorny plants
Spine-covered flora
Plants bearing thorns, spines, or prickles—sharp projections that deter animals from eating them.
Roses, cacti, blackberries, and hawthorns are common examples.
The phrase appears in gardening contexts and metaphorically in discussions of difficult problems: The committee avoided the thorny plants in the proposal.
- bramblesThorny wild shrubs
- rosesThorny flowering shrubs
- rose bushFlowering thorny shrub
- wild rosesUncultivated flowering brambles
- cactiSpiny water-storing plants
prickly pear · thistles · nettles · stinging nettle · barbs · barbed wire · prickly · spines · hedgerow · scratches · tangled · briar · briar patch · sharp · sharp edges · defensive · needles · succulent
- deterrentsguard dog, warning, security camera, penalty, padlock
- hostile architecturepig ears, fence spikes, spikes
thorn, thorns, thorned, thornless, thornlike, thornier, thorniest, thorniness, plant