Thorns are vegetation paired with briers in scenes of waste and desolation. An unpruned vineyard will be laid waste, and “there shall come up briers and thorns” where rain is withheld (2 Nephi 15:6).
People coming into desolated land will rest “upon all thorns, and upon all bushes.” Ground formerly holding a thousand vines will become “for briers and thorns” (2 Nephi 17:19-25).
Wickedness burning as fire “shall devour the briers and thorns” (2 Nephi 19:18). Jesus uses the plants in a question about fruit: “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles” (3 Nephi 14:16).