Alternanthera bettzickiana
A soft foliage perennial that survives on self-healing rather than power, and plays either arena role — a South American native or a near-global invader.
Calico plant is a low, colourful foliage Perennial herb that fights as a soft, self-healing trader: even hits, a couple of mends, and not much armor. It is native to South America and invasive across much of the world — Africa, East Asia, Europe, Eastern and Western North America, Oceania and South Asia — so the arena can field it either way, as a native buffer or an invasive attacker. It is a modest card that survives on healing rather than power.
Its starter attack, Bitter Sap, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun and lands a plain, even hit for about 27 damage as a native and 32 as an invasive. The free once-per-battle ability, Stabilization, arrives at level 25: Pins the ground down — the foe stalls, and can't break away. It is a mid-fight mend that stretches its longevity. The advanced attack, Self-Medicate, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (27 native / 32 invasive) and mends the plant as it strikes. Most of your calico plants sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn. See Moves.
Calico plant keeps a single always-on trait, Resprout, and because it draws only one eligible trait, that slot arrives at half strength on the level 10 riser and matures on the level 68 one. When it works it lets the plant survive one otherwise-lethal hit at roughly a quarter of its health — but it fires only about 60% of the time, so treat it as a coin-flip reprieve rather than a guarantee. See Abilities.
Calico plant carries no special trait keywords — no thorns, no toxin, no spore chemistry — so nothing punishes an attacker for striking it; it is non-toxic, so nothing chemical bites back. Its habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear — a Cloche, or a calcium/magnesium amendment for a little extra DEF — suits its patient, healing game; as an invasive, offensive gear makes its attacks count.
At level 40 calico plant reads 84 HP native and 73 invasive, with ATK of 19 native versus 32 invasive — compare the two on your card, as the invasive edge is where its damage comes from. DEF is just 4, at the soft floor of the perennial-herb band, so it soaks hits with almost no armor — damage is diminishing armor (ATK ÷ (ATK+DEF)), not flat subtraction. Its tempo is worth reading off the card: turn 1 runs on its initiative (34) and every turn after on its SPD (48); if SPD sits higher it is a slow starter that cruises, and if initiative leads it opens fast and fades. Retreat costs 12 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, calico plant swells to 147 HP native / 128 invasive and 33 / 66 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 8 — as a soft herb it buys bulk in health and almost none in armor, so it stays exposed to any real hitter. Retreat rises to 24 Sun as it roots in, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature calico plant acts last against almost anything younger. Maturing buys HP and healing to lean on; what it costs is speed.
As a perennial herb, calico plant sits 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 strike 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 calico plant as a native buffer that lends a fragile hitter the HP cushion and overshield, or as an invasive that leans on its higher ATK. Between the Hardy ability and a mending advanced attack it can grind out long fights, but its soft DEF means it folds against a real hitter, so it is more a durable support piece than a threat. On economy, calico plant is inedible, so no fertilizer pays coins — any nutrient instead banks ×1.25 XP, a growth boost rather than income. It fights as an even-tempo trader early and leans on its bulk and healing as it levels, crossing over around level 36 as a native and 36 as an invasive — but it is always stronger at higher levels in raw stats, so 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.