When is a thorn
not a thorn?

You will know about thorns on roses.  How could you not!

But did you know that, technically speaking they are not thorns but prickles!

A rose’s “thorns” can be snapped off – as they are simple woody projections from the “skin” of the plant.  Find one and try it!

Compare the snappy-offy thorn, with the thorns of a hawthorn or a blackthorn.  You end up breaking off a strip of twig together with the thorn.  This means that it has grown from the tree tissues itself.  It is part of the inside of the plant, not just sticking out of the outside.  This is a true thorn – according to botanists anyway!

So, a rose has prickles, and hawthorns have thorns.

Spines are technically made from modified leaves.  Cacti fit into this category!  But spines can no longer capture energy from sunlight and make sugars, as normal leaves do.

So, perhaps the saying should be, “every rose has its prickle”!