Angelonia salicariifolia
A Perennial herb card with no armour that slowly builds some over the course of a long fight.
Willowleaf Angelon is a Perennial herb card with both roles: native to South America and invasive across Africa, eastern North America, Oceania and South Asia. Native it is a cushioned bench piece; invasive it is a noticeably sharper attacker. See nativity and categories.
The starter attack, Herbal Draught, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, reading 27 native and 31 invasive. Brews its own remedy β strike and heal 12%.
The free once-per-battle ability, Alkaloid Reservoir, unlocks at level 25 and costs no Sun. Empties a season of alkaloids into the foe β saturating Poison.
The advanced attack, Herbaceous Assault, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun, reading 30 native and 33 invasive. A season's growth thrown at once β the foe wilts. A genuine step up from the starter. See moves.
Basal Rosette arrives on the first riser at level 10 at full strength, adding a small flat amount of armour β proportionally most of this card's defence, given it starts with essentially none.
Contractile Roots stacks on at level 68 and works differently from most traits: instead of applying a flat bonus, it adds a little armour every checkup, accumulating up to a ceiling as the fight goes on. Roots pulling the crown deeper. It means the card is at its most fragile early and steadily hardens, which is the opposite of how most soft plants behave.
The species record lists no toxicity and no trait keywords, so no poison rider applies. For field gear, anything that gets this card through its early turns pays off, because its defence improves the longer it survives. Its growth habit is not vine, epiphyte or hemiepiphyte, so a Moss Pole does not apply.
At level 40 native reads 103 HP and 19 ATK; invasive reads 89 HP and 28 ATK β a solid step for the attacker role. Armour is 1, the lowest reading available. Retreat is a cheap 11 Sun. Opening tempo is 36 and sustained tempo is 35, both middling. 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 34 ATK, invasive 165 HP and 55 ATK, with armour only at 1. The soft-herb divergence. Retreat rises to 21 Sun and the inverted tempo has sunk to its floor. The accumulating armour trait matters more at the cap, since fights at that level run longer.
Perennial herb is Competitor: strong into Ruderal β annual forbs, grasses, aquatics and bulbs β and weak to Specialist, meaning succulents, conifers, ferns and epiphytes. See weaknesses and resistances.
A card that wants to stay on the field, which is unusual for something this soft. Its level 68 trait only pays across many checkups, so pulling it out early throws away the thing that makes it distinctive.
Invasive the attack step is real and the card is a reasonable threat. Native it is thinner. Either way, the plan is the same: survive the opening, and it gets progressively harder to remove.
It is not eaten, so a soil amendment earns no matching fertiliser coins and instead banks the Γ1.25 XP an inedible plant pays. See the battle lab.
Leveling trades speed for power. A plantβs 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 β native adds a HP cushion, invasive an attack edge, neutral neither β with the card at its crossover and fully grown at LvΒ 100.