Armatus
/ar-MAY-tus/🏷️ Taxonomy● Basic
Also known as: armata, armatum
Armatus means "armed" — the plant defends itself with spines, thorns or prickles. Botanists keep those three apart: a thorn is a modified stem, a spine a modified leaf or leaf part, and a prickle a sharp outgrowth of the surface. Armatus covers all of them without saying which, so it tells you the plant will catch you but not exactly how. On a nursery label it is as much a handling warning as a description, and it is the direct opposite of inermis, "unarmed".
Etymology
From Latin armatus, "armed, equipped"; in botanical Latin it is used to mean spiny or thorny.
Example
“Anything labelled armatus deserves a pair of gauntlets before you start pruning.”