Alnus cordata
A broadleaf tree that starts slow and grinds relentlessly, healing benched allies and shielding your active, playable as a European native or an African/Oceanian invader.
Italian alder is a solid Broadleaf tree that fights as a supportive healer: sturdy armor, modest damage, and a knack for mending the rest of your team. It is native to Europe and invasive across Africa and Oceania, so the arena can cast it either way — as a native buffer for your bench or as an invasive attacker. It is a dependable support card that props up a stronger hitter rather than finishing fights itself.
Its starter attack, Limb Lash, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 36 damage as a native and 40 as an invasive; it splashes a little onto the enemy bench. The free once-per-battle ability, Climax Community, comes in at level 25: The forest as it ends up: heal 70% and +5 ATK. The advanced attack, Barking Mad, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (35 native / 37 invasive) and mends the plant as it strikes. Most of your alders sit below level 40, where only the starter is available, and none of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn.
Italian alder keeps two always-on abilities. Mycorrhiza arrives on the level 10 riser and heals a benched ally, but it triggers only about 60% of the time, so the mend is likely rather than guaranteed. Network arrives on the level 68 riser: as a canopy tree it projects a gold Sun overshield bar onto your active from the bench. Neither is dropped once earned.
It carries no special trait keywords and, as a terrestrial tree, is not eligible for a Moss Pole. It is non-toxic, so it shows no hazard ring and nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it. As a native, defensive field gear suits its supportive stalling; as an invasive, offensive gear helps convert its relentless late-fight tempo into damage.
At level 40 it reads 121 HP as a native and 106 as an invasive, with ATK of 17 native versus 24 invasive — a real but moderate invasive edge. DEF is 19, in the sturdy broadleaf-tree band, so it takes hits well. Its tempo is back-loaded: turn 1 runs on a lower initiative (30) and every turn after on a higher SPD (40), so it is out-paced off the mark but relentless in a long fight. Retreat costs 16 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active; as an invasive it pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench on each damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, Italian alder climbs to 233 HP native / 203 invasive and 30 / 47 ATK, and its DEF hardens to 41 — as a broadleaf tree it becomes a proper armored wall. Retreat rises to 33 Sun and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so even its late-fight cruising speed is gone and it acts last against almost anything young. Maturing buys toughness at the cost of speed.
As a broadleaf tree, Italian alder is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for ×1.5 and takes only ×0.667 from them; it is weak to Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which hit it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play Italian alder as a support wall: bench it early to trickle heals into your team, or send it in to grind out a long fight where its rising SPD lets it out-cycle a tiring opponent. As a native its bench overshield and heals keep a fragile hitter standing; as an invasive it hits harder but its own bench pays for it. Its damage is modest either way, so it supports better than it finishes. It is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward growth rather than coins. It fights as a slow-then-relentless skirmisher until about level 19 as a native (around level 21 as an invasive), after which its bulk takes over — there is no reason to hold it back.
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.