Thorny perennial internal struggle with bribery (5)
I believe the answer is:
brier
'thorny perennial' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both plants as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
I cannot understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for brier that I've seen before include "It may be smoked" , "smoking pipe" , "Prickly shrub" , "Thorny bush like the wild rose" , "plant" .)