Aeschynanthus radicans
A native-only epiphyte with low damage but real staying power: root-sheath regen behind an overshield bar it supplies itself.
Lipstickplant is a trailing Epiphyte that fights as a low-impact filler: cheap moves, small damage, and no standout mechanic to lean on. It is native to Oceania and South Asia and has no invasive card, so it only ever plays as a native buffer — there is no attacker version. It is a weak, largely collectible card; play it for the bench cushion, not for what it does to the enemy.
Its starter attack, Aerial Root, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 30 damage — a plain hit. The free once-per-battle ability, Aerial Draw, comes in at level 25: Draws water straight from the air: heal 40%. It sharpens the plant's own attack. The advanced attack, Velamen Vice, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (22 native) and mends the plant as it strikes. Most specimens sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. No move carries an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn; see Moves.
Lipstickplant holds two working traits. Velamen Radicum (level 10) recovers 2% of max HP each checkup. Tank Reservoir (level 68) gives the card its own HP overshield bar, independent of any benched native. Regen behind a self-supplied shield is a genuinely durable combination on a soft frame. See Abilities.
Lipstickplant carries no trait keywords — no thorns, no toxin chemistry — so nothing extra punishes an attacker for hitting it. Despite growing as an epiphyte in the wild, its in-game growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. Non-toxic: no contact recoil, no poison rider. As a native-only card, general defensive field gear such as a Cloche best supports its buffer role.
At level 40 it reads 103 HP as a native (the invasive figure 89 never applies, since no invasive card exists). ATK is 19 and native-only, so there is no attacker column to compare against. DEF is just 2, near the floor of the epiphyte band, so it takes hits with almost no armor. Its tempo is a slow start and a slightly faster cruise: turn 1 runs on its initiative (32) and later turns on its SPD (34), so it eases into a fight. Retreat costs 16 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, lipstickplant reaches 190 HP native (invasive 165 unused) and 34 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 3 — it gains bulk in health and almost none in armor, so it stays soft. Retreat rises to 33 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature plant acts last against nearly anything young. Maturing buys HP, and at level 68 a Tank Reservoir bar the plant supplies for itself.
As an epiphyte, lipstickplant is in the Specialist succession group. It hits Competitor plants (perennial herbs, shrubs, broadleaf trees) for x1.5 and takes only x0.667 from them; it is weak to Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs), which strike it for x1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Specialists and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play lipstickplant as a native buffer: the HP cushion and bench overshield are the pitch, propped up by its own root-sheath regen and, from level 68, an overshield bar of its own. Keep it benched behind a real attacker and use its once-per-battle heal to stretch its own time on the field. Economically it is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks x1.25 XP toward faster leveling. It fights as a fast skirmisher until about level 24, then its bulk takes over — there is no reason to hold it back, but expect little from it either way.
Leveling trades speed for power. A plant’s tempo (SPD + INI, the turn-order edge) fades as it grows, while its power (HP + ATK + DEF, net of the rising Sun cost to retreat) climbs. The crossover is the level where power overtakes tempo: below it the plant is a fast skirmisher, above it a heavyweight. Shown for each stance this plant can actually hold — native adds a HP cushion, invasive an attack edge, neutral neither — with the card at its crossover and fully grown at Lv 100.