The reason most likely is that their prickly needles make trimming such a tree or using its branches to make garlands and wreaths a challenge indeed.

The color attracts some people; the prickly needles have some pluses, too, for parents of small children who are always grabbing at the tree to pull it down.

Not on this list are spruce trees, because they have prickly needles and are difficult to trim, and hemlocks, which do not hold their needles well when cut.

Staying down, Bolan slithered through the prickly needles on the forest floor.

Rhoslyn willed the Gate active, stepped through into a black night in which only the prickly needles and the odor identified the yew hedge, and stepped back.

She reached a branch with prickly needles and pushed it up a little.

The mother who raised him, Dassie, moved to the Detroit suburbs a while back, and became the target of her son's prickly needle.

They also grow prickly needles to protect the cactus from animals that want to eat it.

Boughs positioned as vertical spikes around street trees may help discourage visiting dogs, whose owners may not allow them to wade through a field of prickly needles.

Wear heavy gloves when handling the rough bark and prickly needles.