Alcea rosea
One of the fastest cards in the game, with a large invasive attack step and effectively no armour.
Hollyhock is a Perennial herb card with both roles: native to Europe and invasive across Africa, East Asia, both halves of North America, Oceania, South America and South Asia — seven regions, a very wide spread. Native it is a cushioned bench piece; invasive it is a much sharper attacker. See nativity and categories.
The starter attack, Taproot Anchor, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, reading 26 native and 32 invasive. Anchors deep and holds the foe with it. It is the card's hardest hit and its cheapest.
The free once-per-battle ability, Perennating Bud, unlocks at level 25 and costs no Sun. Breaks a stored bud: heal 40%.
The advanced attack, Alkaloid Ambush, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun, reading 21 native and 27 invasive. Poisons before the foe can react. It hits for less than the starter at three times the Sun cost, so it is an effect purchase only — keep leading with the starter. See moves.
Basal Rosette arrives on the first riser at level 10 at full strength, adding a small flat amount of armour. On a card starting from essentially zero, that is proportionally most of its defence.
Vernalization Memory stacks on at level 68, adding attack power from the third turn onward only. Given how fast this card is, it will usually have acted twice before the trait switches on — so treat it as a reward for surviving into a longer fight rather than part of the opening plan.
The species record lists no toxicity and no trait keywords, so no poison rider applies. For field gear, survivability is the whole problem. Its growth habit is not vine, epiphyte or hemiepiphyte, so a Moss Pole does not apply.
At level 40 native reads 103 HP and 15 ATK; invasive reads 89 HP and 32 ATK. That is a very large step, and it is the clearest thing separating this card's two roles. Armour is 1, the lowest reading available. Retreat is a cheap 12 Sun. Opening tempo is 51 and sustained tempo is 52, both near the top of the range. Invasive it pays Faustian bench damage per damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes on knockout. See stats.
By level 100 native reaches 190 HP and 25 ATK, invasive 165 HP and 66 ATK, with armour only at 2. The soft-herb divergence. Retreat rises to 23 Sun and the inverted tempo has sunk to its floor — which costs this card a great deal, because acting first was its main advantage.
Perennial herb is Competitor: strong into Ruderal — annual forbs, grasses, aquatics and bulbs — and weak to Specialist, meaning succulents, conifers, ferns and epiphytes. See weaknesses and resistances.
A racer, and a good one in the invasive role. It acts first, its cheap starter attack carries the damage, and the wide invasive range gives it an attack stat well beyond what its native form suggests. The cheap retreat lets you strike and withdraw.
Native it is considerably weaker — the attack figure drops sharply and it becomes a fast but harmless bench body. Judge it mostly on the attacker role.
It is edible and its economy group is leaf, so a nitrogen soil amendment pays it ×1.25 coins. See the battle lab.
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.