Crataegus uniflora
A thorny native Broadleaf tree that punishes attackers on contact and, once mature, shields your bench — but it only ever plays as a native.
Dwarf hawthorn is a small, thorny Broadleaf tree that fights as a sturdy defensive support: it soaks hits behind a tree's armor and makes anything that strikes it bleed. It is native to Eastern and Western North America, and no invasive card exists — the arena only ever fields it as a native buffer for your bench. It is a slow, durable role-player rather than a damage threat: its value is in absorbing punishment and protecting a stronger hitter beside it.
Its starter attack, Acorn Drop, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun and hits for about 26 damage, also nicking the enemy bench as the mast drops. The free once-per-battle ability, Gap Capture, arrives at level 25: Takes the fallen giant's light: +5 ATK, kept for the match. — a solid mid-fight mend for a card built to grind. The advanced attack, Heartwood, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (31 native) and heals it as it strikes. Most of your hawthorns sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn — it wins by outlasting. See Moves.
Beyond its thorns (covered under Features), dwarf hawthorn gains a single always-on trait: Network, which arrives on the level 68 riser. As a canopy tree, while it is benched it projects a Sun overshield onto your active — a genuine reason to keep it on the bench late rather than up front. It carries no self-heal trait, so its longevity comes from the mends built into its moves, not a passive. See Abilities.
Dwarf hawthorn holds the thorns keyword, so every damaging hit it takes deals flat HP recoil back to the attacker, drawn off its physical armature. That recoil matures on the level 10 riser, so it lands at full strength from early on — a steady tax on anything that keeps punching it. It is non-toxic, so nothing chemical punishes an attacker on top of the thorns. As a tree it has no climbing habit and is not eligible for a Moss Pole; as a native, general defensive field gear — a Cloche, or a calcium/magnesium amendment for a little extra DEF — leans into its wall-and-recoil game.
At level 40 dwarf hawthorn reads 103 HP and 23 ATK. DEF is 28 — firm for its age and, as a tree, headed toward a genuine wall, so it takes hits far better than the herbs and weeds around it. Damage is diminishing armor (ATK ÷ (ATK+DEF)), not flat subtraction, so that DEF blunts every blow. Its tempo splits across the fight: the opening turn runs on its initiative (39) and every turn after on its SPD (33) — read the two together, since if initiative is the higher number it opens fast and fades, and if SPD is higher it starts slow and grows relentless. Retreat costs 14 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, dwarf hawthorn climbs to 190 HP and 43 ATK, and — being a tree — its DEF reaches 66, a real wall that keeps it hard to dent even at the top of the ladder. Retreat rises to 29 Sun as it roots in, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature hawthorn acts last against almost anything young. Maturing buys it armor and staying power; it costs speed and the flexibility to reposition cheaply.
As a broadleaf tree, dwarf hawthorn 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.
Play dwarf hawthorn as a native wall and bench guardian: park it up front to soak hits and tax attackers with its thorns, or bench it late to lend a fragile hitter the HP cushion, the HP overshield, and — from level 68 — the Sun overshield of its Network trait. Its own damage is low, so it protects and outlasts rather than finishes. On economy it is an edible-fruit plant, so feeding it Phosphorus pays ×1.25 coins, while any other nutrient banks ×1.25 XP instead — a dependable coin-earner. It plays as a slow, sturdy defender whose bulk only compounds as it levels, crossing over around level 20 — and it is always stronger at higher levels in raw stats, 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.