Cicerbita alpina
A native-only perennial herb that plays as a defensive buffer and collection piece.
An alpine sow-thistle herb — a fast cruiser that snowballs attack in longer fights. It is a perennial herb in battle. It is native to Europe and is recorded as invasive nowhere, so it only ever plays the native buffer role — there is no attacker scenario for this card.
The starter attack Stolon Reach unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun: Runs a stolon out fast — and keeps the speed. It deals about 31 damage.
The free once-per-battle ability Chronosequence arrives at level 25: Time on its side: +3 ATK and speed, kept. It costs no Sun — its price is being usable only once per battle.
The advanced attack Perennial Problem opens at level 40 for 6 Sun: It was always going to come back. It hits for about 42.
Most cards you field sit well below level 40, so introduce these slots in order — a young plant has only its starter.
This card keeps two always-on traits, drawn from its category pool; the rest of that pool was dropped and it never gets it. Basal Rosette (from level 10) hugs the ground in a rosette for +3 DEF, resisting grazing and mowing.
A second, different trait stacks on later: Vernalization Memory (from level 68) is a slow-burn buff: +5 ATK from turn 3 onward, so it rewards a drawn-out fight. So for most of its playable life — including at the level 40 snapshot the stats below are read at — this card runs its first trait alone, and only a fully levelled specimen holds both.
This card carries no special trait keywords, and as a perennial herb it is not eligible for a Moss Pole (that is for climbers — vines and epiphytes). A Calcium/Magnesium soil amendment adds flat DEF, useful on a soft card like this. Playing native, lean into bench support that feeds the overshield it and its benched natives project. See field gear for the full list.
Read at level 40, it carries 103 HP, including the +15% native cushion, with DEF 1 and a retreat cost of 12 Sun. Its attack reads 23 ATK.
It is slow off the mark but relentless after: a low opening tempo (35 initiative) but a higher sustained tempo (44 SPD), so it often loses turn 1 and then out-paces the foe from turn 2.
As a native it and any benched natives project a bench overshield onto your active. It never holds the invasive role, so it pays no Faustian self-damage. See stats.
As a perennial herb it thickens in HP to 190 native / 165 invasive and gains ATK to 41 / 43, but keeps a low DEF band, capping at 1. Retreat rises to 22 Sun as it roots down with age, and its once-brisk tempo has sunk to near its floor — the tempo pips in Stats above are as fast as this card ever moves. Levelling buys raw bulk and reach; it costs turn-order speed.
In the succession type chart this perennial herb is a Competitor. Its attacks hit Ruderal cards (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics and bulbs) for ×1.5, while Specialist cards (succulents, conifers, ferns and epiphytes) hit it for ×1.5 and shrug its own blows down to ×0.667. Matchups against the off-wheel Weird categories (carrion-aroids, carnivorous plants, mycotrophs and vascular parasites) are neutral both ways. See weaknesses & resistances.
This is a native-only card: play it as a buffer and wall, soaking hits and feeding the bench overshield. It earns its keep in single-player battles for coins and as a family-tree collection piece more than as a top-tier attacker. It is edible with a resolved edible part, so feeding it Nitrogen pays ×1.25 coins; any other nutrient banks ×1.25 XP instead.
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.