Dracaena reflexa
A non-toxic shrub that plays either arena role — an African native buffer or an invasive attacker across Oceania and South America — regenerating in any weather.
Song of India is a Shrub that fights as a durable, moderate-damage all-rounder: a shrub's firmer armor and a succulent regeneration that ticks in any weather. It is native to Africa and invasive in Oceania and South America, so the arena can field it either way — as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker. It hits a little harder than most shrubs in this set but is still built to last rather than to burst.
Its starter attack, Drupe Drop, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 25 damage as a native and 26 as an invasive — a plain hit. The free once-per-battle ability, Bramble Barrier, arrives at level 25: A wall of thorns — the foe withers against it. It is a mid-fight mend. The advanced attack, Blackthorn Barrage, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (41 native / 42 invasive) and pins the target as it lands. Most of your plants of this species sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
Song of India keeps one always-on trait, Succulence, which arrives on the level 10 riser and stays at full strength from there. It lets the plant regenerate in any weather — but it is a sustain trait that fires only about 60% of the time, so the healing is steady on average rather than every turn. Below the level 10 riser it leans on its stats and heal alone. See Abilities.
Song of India is non-toxic: it holds no Toxin trait, so striking it inflicts no poison and no contact recoil. Its habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear — a Cloche or a calcium or magnesium amendment — reinforces its armor; as an invasive, offensive gear pushes its aggression. See statuses.
At level 40 Song of India reads 103 HP native and 89 invasive, with ATK of 20 native versus 23 invasive — the invasive form is the sharper hitter. DEF is 10, in the firmer shrub band, so it soaks hits better than any weed or herb. Its tempo is slightly slow off the mark: out-paced a touch on turn 1 by its initiative (23) and a shade faster after with its SPD (25). Retreat costs 12 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and projects a benched 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, Song of India climbs to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 36 / 42 ATK, and its DEF firms to 20 — a shrub buys real armor as it grows. Retreat rises to 22 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature card acts last against almost anything younger.
As a shrub, Song of India 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 Song of India as a durable body: as a native, bench it for the overshield or bring it in to soak hits and pin a threat while its regeneration ticks; as an invasive, lean on its sharper ATK to trade, though it still grinds rather than bursts. 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 steady grinder that leans harder on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 11 as a native and 14 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.