Astilbe simplicifolia
A non-toxic East Asian perennial herb that plays as a native buffer — it poisons on its opening hit and heals through the fight, but hits softly.
Entire leaf false goat's beard is a Perennial herb that fights as a native buffer: it opens by poisoning the enemy active and mends itself through the exchange. It is native to East Asia and has no invasive form, so it only ever plays the buffer role — there is no attacker version to field. Its own damage is low; it earns its place by attrition and support rather than force.
Its starter attack, Volatile Oils, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 24 damage and leaving the target poisoned. The free once-per-battle ability, Seral Persistence, arrives at level 25: Refuses to be replaced: heal 60%, and the foe can't heal. It is a mid-fight mend. The advanced attack, Herbaceous Assault, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (29 damage) and mends the plant as it strikes. Most of your goat's beard sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
It keeps one always-on trait, Resprout, which arrives at half strength on the level 10 riser and matures on the level 68 riser — a real difference for most of the card's life. 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 lucky reprieve rather than a guarantee. See Abilities.
Entire leaf false goat's beard is non-toxic: it carries no contact recoil and no poison rider on being struck, so nothing punishes an attacker for trading with it. Its habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native it wants defensive field gear — a Cloche, or a calcium/magnesium amendment for a little DEF — to offset its thin armor. See statuses.
At level 40 it reads 103 HP with ATK of 16 — a low number, so its damage never amounts to much. DEF is just 4, at the soft floor of the perennial-herb band, so it takes hits with almost no armor and relies on its poison and healing instead. Its tempo is back-loaded: turn 1 is outpaced on its initiative (32), but every turn after runs faster on its SPD (34), so it is a slow starter that grinds harder once a fight settles. Retreat costs 16 Sun. As a native it gains an HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, it swells to 190 HP and 28 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 33 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature plant acts last against almost anything younger.
As a perennial herb, it 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 (perennial herbs, shrubs, trees, vines) and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play it as a native buffer and poison staller: lead to poison the enemy active, heal through the fight, and let its bench overshield protect your active. It is honestly a weak card — a collection and support piece more than a threat — since its attack is low and it has no invasive attacker form. On economy, it is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth rather than coins. It plays as a slow staller leaning harder on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 25 — but it is always stronger at higher levels, 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.