Chaenomeles
A thorny shrub that punishes attackers on contact and plays either role, with a big invasive attack jump.
Flowering quinces (Chaenomeles) is a spiny Shrub that fights as a thorny, moderately armored bruiser. It is native to East and South Asia and invasive across Europe, Eastern North America, and Oceania, so the arena can cast it either way — as a native buffer for your bench or as an invasive attacker. It is one of the more interesting cards here: thorns make it dangerous to hit, and its invasive attack is a large step up. See nativity.
Its starter attack, Bramble Lash, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun for about 33 damage native / 37 invasive — a plain hit with no rider. The free once-per-battle ability, Shrubland Sere, arrives at level 25: Settles the slope: heal 35%, and the foe withers. Its advanced attack, Thorn in the Side, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (30 / 34) and pins the target so it cannot retreat. Most of your specimens sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. See moves.
Flowering quinces keeps one always-on trait: Thorns. It arrives at full strength on the level 10 riser and is never dropped after that. From then on, any attacker that strikes it takes recoil damage back, so simply hitting it costs the opponent health. That contact punishment is its main defensive edge. See abilities.
It carries the Thorns keyword, so melee attackers take recoil when they strike it — a real deterrent for anything trying to grind it down. It holds no toxin, so it is non-toxic with no hazard ring, and its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear stacks with the thorns to make it painful to attack; as an invasive, offensive gear turns its already-strong ATK into a genuine threat.
At level 40 it reads 103 HP native / 89 invasive, with ATK of 20 native versus 31 invasive — a large invasive jump that makes the aggressive role clearly better for damage. DEF is 11, mid in the shrub band, giving it real armor to pair with its thorns. Its tempo is uneven: turn 1 runs on a fair initiative (40), and every turn after on a higher SPD (44), so it grows relentless in a long fight. Retreat costs 14 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and projects a bench HP overshield; 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 it swells to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 36 / 63 ATK, and as a shrub its DEF climbs to 22 — a moderate wall that, with thorns, makes attacking it genuinely costly. Retreat rises to 29 Sun and its tempo sinks to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature bush acts last against almost anything younger. Maturing buys bulk, armor, and contact punishment, paying only in speed.
As a shrub it sits in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for x1.5 and is struck for only x0.667 by them; it is weak to Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which hit it for x1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
As a native, it is a strong bench wall whose thorns punish anyone attacking your active while its cushion and overshield keep the front card alive. As an invasive, it is a fine aggressor: the big ATK jump plus a pin to stop retreats lets it lock down and grind a target while thorns bleed the attacker. It is one of the better all-round cards in this batch. Its value is also economic: it is inedible, so any nutrient banks x1.25 XP rather than coins. It fights as a fair-tempo opener whose bulk and thorns take over as it levels, crossing around level 29 — always stronger in raw stats higher up, so never 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.