Prickles vs Thorns

One A few of the many things that I try and instill in the young minds that sit before me in lecture, is are:
1) botanists make stuff up to serve their own needs,
2) botanists make stuff up to separate themselves from zoologists,
3) and most importantly the things they make up are very specific, and need to show up at the right time, and in the right place, on an exam.

This blip will serve to help all those in blip-land feel the pain of today's undergraduate population. These are prickles on a rose bush, not thorns. Roses don't produce thorns. Whahhhhhhtttt?????

Thorns are modified stems that arise from the axil (point where a leaf joins the stem) of a leaf. Axillary buds can also develop into branches, inflorescences and flowers.

Prickles develop from epidermal, or sub-epidermal cells, are highly variable in shape, size, and prickliness, and are usually randomly distributed along the stem.

Don't believe me, go out and check your rose bushes. While you're out there, find a hawthorn and determine where the thorns are found.

Class dismissed...