Euonymus carnosus
A native-only shrub with decent armor, a leaf that shaves damage off every hit and a late taunt — a modest defensive body and collectible.
Fleshy-flowered spindletree is a Shrub that fights as a defensive body: middling armor, modest damage, a leaf that shaves 3 off every hit, and a late taunt. It is native to East Asia, and no invasive card exists for it, so it only ever plays the native buffer role that shields your bench. It is mostly a collectible wall — a shield you park, not an attacker you build around.
Most of your spindletrees sit below level 40, so the unlock levels matter. The starter attack, Berry, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 27 damage — a plain hit. The free once-per-battle ability, Chaparral Climax, arrives at level 25: Owns the dry hillside: heal 60% and +4 ATK. — it restores HP. The advanced attack, Thorn Wall, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (35) and saps the target, withering its output. None of its moves seize the initiative. See Moves.
Fleshy-flowered spindletree runs two always-on traits. Sclerophylly (level 10) shaves a flat 3 off each direct hit. Sapromyophily (level 68) draws the group's single-victim picks onto this card rather than the bench behind it. See Abilities.
It carries no trait keywords and is non-toxic: no contact recoil, no poison rider, so nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear that adds DEF or HP suits its wall role. See Field gear.
At level 40 it reads 103 HP with ATK of 19. DEF is 13, a solid mid-band shrub value, so it soaks physical hits better than a herb or grass. Its tempo is a quick start into a slower cruise: turn 1 leads on its initiative (41), then it is out-paced on its SPD (34). Retreat costs 16 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active — its main contribution. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, it climbs toward an armored wall: 190 HP and 34 ATK, with DEF reaching 28 — a real defensive number that blunts incoming damage. Retreat rises to 33 Sun and tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so it acts near-last. Maturing buys durability, not offense, and never a passive. See Stats.
As a shrub it is 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. Other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group are neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play it as a native buffer: bench it to feed an HP overshield to a fragile hitter, or lead with it to soak a few turns behind its armor. Its damage is modest, so value it for the shield and the wall — and for a taunt that decides who takes the next single-target hit. It is inedible, so feeding it any nutrient banks x1.25 XP rather than coins, and it banks that bonus reliably. It opens fast but leans on its bulk as it levels, with the crossover around level 25 — higher levels are always stronger, 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.