Cananga odorata
A fragrant tropical tree that plays either arena role — a native buffer across Oceania and South Asia or an invader in Africa, Asia and the Americas — healing benched allies and shielding your active from the bench.
Ylang ylang is a Broadleaf tree that fights as a slow support tree: it splashes the enemy bench on its opening hit, drains with its advanced attack, mends its bench, and shields your active once mature. It is native to Oceania and South Asia and invasive in Africa, East Asia, Western North America and South America, so the arena can field it as a native buffer or an invasive attacker. It is slow but sturdy, built to support more than to race.
Its starter attack, Leaf Smother, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 26 damage as a native and 29 as an invasive while splashing the enemy bench. The free once-per-battle ability, Canopy Recruitment, arrives at level 25: Pushes a sapling into the canopy: heal 35% and +3 ATK. It is a mid-fight mend. The advanced attack, Crown Shade, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (34 native / 37 invasive) and saps the target as it strikes. Most of your ylang ylang sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
Ylang ylang keeps two always-on traits. Mycorrhiza arrives on the level 10 riser and heals a benched ally, but as a sustain trait it fires only about 60% of the time. Network arrives on the level 68 riser and, as a canopy tree, projects a gold Sun overshield bar onto your active from the bench; it works reliably once unlocked. See Abilities.
Ylang ylang does not hold the Toxin trait and is non-toxic, so striking it carries no contact recoil and its attacks add no poison. 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 extra DEF — thickens its firm armor; as an invasive, offensive gear pushes its higher attack. See statuses.
At level 40 ylang ylang reads 103 HP native and 89 invasive, with ATK of 22 native versus 32 invasive — a wide gap that makes the invasive card notably harder-hitting. DEF is 14, in the broadleaf-tree band, the firmest here, so it soaks hits like a wall where the weeds and herbs fold. Its tempo is slow: turn 1 runs on its initiative (37), which leads modestly, but every turn after on its far lower SPD (22), so it opens all right and lags badly in a long fight. Retreat costs 14 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, ylang ylang swells to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 38 / 65 ATK, and its DEF climbs to 30 — as a tree it turns into a real wall, buying armor as well as health. Retreat rises to 27 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature ylang ylang acts last against almost anything younger. Maturing buys a heavy defensive body but leaves it even slower.
As a broadleaf tree, Ylang ylang 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.
As a native, play ylang ylang as a support wall: heal a benched ally with Mycorrhiza, shield your active with Network once mature, and take the front line when you need a body that soaks hits. As an invasive its markedly higher ATK gives it real bite behind a tree's bulk, though it pays bench self-damage for the aggression and its slow tempo means it usually acts last. On economy, it is inedible, so any nutrient banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth rather than coins. It plays as a slow bulk wall from the start, crossing over around level 16 as a native and 19 as an invasive — 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.