knotty vs spinose

knotty

adj
  • Of a part of the body, a tree, etc.: full of knots (knobs or swellings); gnarled, knobbly. 

  • Of string or something stringlike: full of, or tied up, in knots. 

  • Complicated or tricky; complex, difficult. 

  • Of an austere or hard nature; rugged. 

spinose

adj
  • Having spines 

How often have the words knotty and spinose occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )