prickly shrub

Hence: Any rough, prickly shrub.

Gorse, gors, n. a prickly shrub growing on waste places, the furze or whin.—adj.

A common defence against these unwelcome intruders is to cover the roofs with a certain prickly shrub, the thorns of which command respect even from monkeys.

Bramble, bram′bl, n. a wild prickly shrub bearing blackberries, a blackberry bush: any rough prickly shrub.—ns.

Dampier describes the Galapagos Isles to be generally of good height: 'four or five of the Easternmost Islands are rocky, hilly, and barren, producing neither tree, herb, nor grass; but only a green prickly shrub that grows 10 or 12 feet high, as big as a man's leg, and is full of sharp prickles in thick rows from top to bottom, without leaf or fruit.