Briar is found generally around the Mediterranean. My origins are from a moutain region in the North West of Greece where there is a lot of briar. A few years ago a team manager, commissioned by a pipe maker firm from Patras, supervised the gathering of briar roots in the whole region. And I was lucky enough to buy some pieces (around 20lb) from that guy. But, after he retired, the gathering stopped at once. I now buy green beans from him... :biggrin:
An example of briar in the attached picture.