a briar. also spelled briar term generally applied to any plant with a woody and thorny or prickly stem, such as those of the genera Rosa, Rubus, Smilax, and Erica. White, or tree, heath (E. arborea) is found in southern France and the Mediterranean region. Its roots and knotted stems are used for making briarwood tobacco pipes. Its leaves are needlelike and its flowers almost white
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