Galium verrucosum
A soft annual-forb pioneer that plays only as an African and European native buffer, pooling defence from its benched ruderal allies while it cruises the fight.
Southern cleavers is a soft Annual forb that fights as a low-armor pioneer, borrowing much of its staying power from the ruderal allies on your bench. It is native to Africa and Europe and has no invasive card, so the arena only fields it as a native buffer. Its damage is modest and its armor thin — this is a support body and a collection piece, not a hitter.
Its starter attack, Cultivate, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, a plain strike dealing about 31 damage. The free once-per-battle ability, Founder Effect, arrives at level 25: One founder, a whole population: heal 55% and +5 ATK. It is a mid-fight mend. The advanced attack, Choke Bloom, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (about 41 damage), a heavier plain strike. Most southern cleavers sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. One of its attacks carries an initiative rider: it seizes the initiative and strikes first in wild encounters, and in the arena it instead finishes a kill and keeps going. See Moves.
Southern cleavers keeps two always-on traits. Duff Stuff arrives on the level 10 riser: while cleavers is active, its effective DEF rises by half the summed DEF of your alive benched ruderals — annual forbs, grasses, aquatics and bulbs — recomputed live, so the cushion fades as those allies faint while the donors keep their own DEF. It is a real, always-on defence, not a chance effect. Reseed arrives much later, on the level 68 riser: when cleavers is knocked out, a fresh Seedling token steps up in its place. See Abilities.
Southern cleavers is non-toxic: it has no contact recoil and no poison rider, so nothing punishes an attacker for striking it. Its habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native its armor is thin, so defensive field gear — a Cloche, or a calcium/magnesium amendment for a little DEF — helps it hold the front. See statuses.
At level 40 southern cleavers reads 103 HP and 23 ATK — a low attack, with no separate invasive form. DEF is just 2, at the soft floor of the annual-forb band, so on its own it takes hits with almost no armor — which is exactly what Duff Stuff is there to shore up while its bench holds. Its tempo is faintly back-loaded: turn 1 runs on its initiative (32) and every turn after on its slightly faster SPD (34), so it opens a touch behind and then keeps pace. Retreat costs 16 Sun. As a native it also gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, southern cleavers swells to 190 HP and 42 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 3 — as a soft annual forb it buys bulk in health and almost none in armor, so it stays exposed to any real hitter and still leans on Duff Stuff's pooled defence. Retreat rises to 33 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature cleavers acts last against almost anything younger.
As an annual forb, southern cleavers sits in the Ruderal succession group. It hits Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes) for ×1.5 and takes only ×0.667 from them; it is weak to Competitor plants (perennial herbs, vines, shrubs, broadleaf trees), which strike it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Ruderals and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play southern cleavers as a native support body: keep a bench of ruderal allies alive so Duff Stuff can pool their DEF onto it, let its HP cushion and overshield steady your active, and heal through longer fights. It is a modest card overall — low attack and thin armor make it a buffer and a collection piece rather than a carry. On economy, southern cleavers is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth rather than coins. It plays as an even-tempo skirmisher that leans harder on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 23 — 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.