brier

Noun

• evergreen treelike Mediterranean shrub having fragrant white flowers in large terminal panicles and hard woody roots used to make tobacco pipes

• a very prickly woody vine of the eastern United States growing in tangled masses having tough round stems with shiny leathery leaves and small greenish flowers followed by clusters of inedible shiny black berries

• Eurasian rose with prickly stems and fragrant leaves and bright pink flowers followed by scarlet hips

• a thorny stem or twig

• tangled mass of prickly plants

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  tree heath , briar , Erica arborea , bullbrier , greenbrier , catbrier , horse brier , horse-brier , Smilax rotundifolia , sweetbrier , sweetbriar , eglantine , Rosa eglanteria , brierpatch , brier patch