lawyer vine
(also lawyer cane)
noun
An Australian climbing palm which is thickly covered in sharp spines and recurved hooks. It grows in rainforest, where groups may form dense tangled thickets.
- Genus Calamus, family Palmae.
- The stretchers are only two saplings with a blanket strung between them and sewn up with lawyer vine.
- Instead of willow, baskets are made from lawyer vine.
Origin
Early 20th century: probably so named by humorous analogy with ‘tortuous’ legal arguments.