Frangula californica
A sturdy shrub that firms up when wounded, heals heavily, and pins the foe in place — durable but light on damage.
California coffeeberry is a shrub — mid-armor and durable. It is native to western North America and invasive in Oceania, so it holds both roles: a staller at home, a slightly tougher attacker abroad, though its invasive attack step is small. Its strength is durability and control, not raw power.
Its opening attack, Bramblemaze (level 1, 2 Sun), pins the foe for 28 native / 28 invasive: "A maze of brambles the foe can't back out of." The ability Facilitation (level 25) does "Shelters its own and starves the rest: heal 50%, and the foe's bench withers." — a large heal plus bench Wither. Its advanced attack, Bramble Scramble (level 40), costs 6 Sun for 38 / 38: "Two passes through the brambles."
From level 10 it carries Marcescence — a flat +4 DEF while below half HP, hardening under pressure. At level 68 it adds Drupe Mast: when it is knocked out, it heals your living bench on the way down. Below level 68 it has only the under-pressure armor.
No thorns, no toxin. Not a climber, so no Moss Pole. Marcescence and its heavy self-heal reward trading blows when hurt; it wants gear that keeps fights long.
At level 40 it reads, native, HP 103 / ATK 20; invasive, HP 89 / ATK 20 — only a small attacker step, so it is not much scarier abroad. DEF is 13 at rest (+4 below half), retreat 16 Sun. Opening tempo 38 (fairly quick) and sustained tempo 34 (moderate): it opens a little ahead of the foe and settles to par. Invasive, it pays Faustian bench self-damage each attack and concedes 2 prizes on a knockout.
By the cap, DEF reaches 28 at rest (higher under half HP), with native HP 190 / ATK 35 (invasive 165 / 35). Retreat rises to 33 Sun and its tempo sinks near floor. Maturing buys a durable staller; its light attack is the standing limit.
California coffeeberry is a Competitor: ×1.5 into Ruderals (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs), ×1.5 taken from Specialists (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), even with fellow Competitors.
Native, it is a control-staller that pins the foe, heals heavily, and firms up as it is hurt. Invasive, its small attack step means it plays much the same as at home — a durable grinder rather than a threat, best paired with a real hitter. It is not edible, so any fertilizer banks ×1.25 XP rather than coins — feed it to level. Its shrub bulk makes it power-favored from a low level (crossover near level 23); level it up.
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.