Apocynum androsaemifolium
A soft perennial herb that starts slow but cruises fast and can survive a lethal hit, playing either role — a North American native or a European invader.
Spreading dogbane is a soft Perennial herb that fights as a slow-starting but relentless racer with a survival safety net. It is native to eastern and western North America and invasive in Europe, so the arena can cast it either way — as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker (see nativity). It is thin-skinned but attacks well once a fight settles.
Its starter attack, Rhizome Creep, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 30 damage native / 30 invasive and laying a poison status that chips the target over following turns. The free once-per-battle ability, Hemicryptophyte Hold, arrives at level 25: Hunkers at ground level — Bind and Wither the foe. The advanced attack, Taproot Canal, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (28 native / 28 invasive) and is a plain, direct hit. Most of your copies sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn.
It keeps one always-on trait: Resprout. Because it draws a single eligible trait, Resprout 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 health — but it fires only about 60% of the time, so treat it as a coin-flip reprieve. See Abilities.
Beyond its move status effects it carries no trait keywords, so nothing recoils onto an attacker. It is non-toxic, with no contact recoil and no hazard ring. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear offsets its thin armor; as an invasive, offensive gear presses its cruise speed.
At level 40 it reads 103 HP native / 89 invasive, with ATK of 27 native versus 27 invasive — a narrow gap, so both forms hit similarly. DEF is just 1, at the floor of the perennial-herb band, so it has essentially no armor. Its tempo is a pronounced slow start into a much faster cruise: turn 1 runs on its low initiative (25) and later turns on its far higher SPD (45), so it is out-paced badly on the opening turn but relentless once a fight settles. Retreat costs 12 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and a benched HP overshield; as an invasive it pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench each damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, it climbs to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 49 / 49 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 2 — a soft herb gains health, never armor, so it stays exposed. Retreat rises to 23 Sun and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap. Maturing buys bulk, not protection.
As a perennial herb it is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants for ×1.5 and is struck for only ×0.667 by them; it is weak to Specialist plants, which hit it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group are neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
As a native, play it as a bench buffer whose cushion, overshield and survival trait support a sturdier active; as an invasive, it is a glassy attacker that wants long fights where its cruise speed and poison wear the enemy down. Its lack of armor and weak opening turn cap its reliability. Its value is also economic: it is inedible, so any nutrient banks ×1.25 XP toward leveling. As a native it fights as a slow-then-fast skirmisher until about level 23, and as an invasive the crossover to bulk comes around level 27 — keep leveling it.
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.