He tossed the dead match into a clump of thorny weed.

But the cement walks were crumbling, the trees had died, and rank thorny weeds choked about their roots.

Peering through a clump of thorny weeds, Perrin saw only the same rolling plain that lay behind them.

Seventy-two steps, cut out in the rock, and covered with thorny weeds and moss, are the beginning of the ascent to the Bagh caves.