Ficus rubiginosa
A broadleaf-tree healer-wall that splashes the enemy bench and mends allies, playing either arena role — an Oceanian native or an invader across Africa, Europe and Western North America.
The Illawarra Fig is a Broadleaf tree that fights as a healer-support wall: its opening attack spills damage onto the enemy bench, it mends allies from the bench, and it can mend itself as it strikes. It is native to Oceania and invasive across Africa, Europe and Western North America, so the arena can field it either way — as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker. Its strength is bulk and healing, not raw damage.
Its starter attack, Acorn Drop, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 24 damage as a native and 26 as an invasive, and splashing damage onto the enemy bench. The free once-per-battle ability, Old-Growth Reaction, arrives at level 25: Centuries of shade — the foe stalls and withers. It is a mid-fight mend. The advanced attack, Barking Mad, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (34 native / 37 invasive) and mends the plant as it strikes. Most of your fig sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
The Illawarra Fig keeps two always-on traits. Mycorrhiza arrives on the level 10 riser and heals a benched ally, though it fires only about 60% of the time. Network arrives on the level 68 riser: as a canopy tree it projects a gold Sun overshield bar onto your active from the bench. Together they make it a strong bench presence long before it needs to attack. See Abilities.
The Illawarra Fig is non-toxic — it carries no Toxin trait, so striking it triggers no contact recoil and it lays no poison rider. Its habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear — a Cloche or a calcium/magnesium amendment — deepens an already firm wall; as an invasive, offensive gear pushes its attack. See statuses.
At level 40 the fig reads 103 HP native and 89 invasive, with ATK of 16 native versus 23 invasive — the invasive gap is modest, and even so its raw attack is low. DEF is 19, up in the broadleaf-tree band, so it is a proper wall that takes hits with real armor. Its tempo is back-loaded: turn 1 runs on its slow initiative (20) and every turn after on its faster SPD (34), so it is out-paced off the mark but relentless once a fight settles in. Retreat costs 16 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an 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, the fig swells to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 28 / 44 ATK, and its DEF climbs to 41 — a heavy wall, since trees buy armor as they grow, not just health. Retreat rises to 33 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature fig acts last against almost anything younger but is very hard to bring down.
As a broadleaf tree, the Illawarra Fig 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 (perennial herbs, shrubs, broadleaf trees) and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play the Illawarra Fig as a native healer-wall: bench it to feed allies its mend and the Sun overshield, or wall up front and grind while it mends itself. As an invasive its higher ATK and the bench splash give it some reach, but it still wins by attrition and healing rather than force, and it pays self-damage for the privilege. On economy, its fruit is an edible part, so feeding it Phosphorus pays ×1.25 coins while any other nutrient banks ×1.25 XP. It plays as a slow, healing wall that only hardens with levels, crossing over around level 15 as a native and 18 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.