Thorny

Part of speech: adjective (a.)

1. Full of thorns or spines; rough with thorns; spiny; as, a thorny wood; a thorny tree; a thorny crown.

2. Like a thorn or thorns; hence, figuratively, troublesome; vexatious; harassing; perplexing. "The thorny point of bare distress." Shak. The steep and thorny way to heaven. Shak. Thorny rest-harrow (Bot.), rest-harrow. -- Thorny trefoil, a prickly plant of the genus Fagonia (F. Cretica, etc.).