Geranium maculatum
A native-only woodland herb that leads turn 1, opens with poison, and heals itself, played as a bench buffer.
Spotted geranium is a low Perennial herb that fights as a quick-opening, self-healing skirmisher with a poison starter. It is native to Eastern North America and has no invasive form, so the arena only ever plays it as a native buffer - there is no attacker version. It is a modest card, notable mainly for a strong turn-1 tempo.
Its starter attack, Bitter Sap, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 30 damage and leaving poison on the target (see statuses). The free once-per-battle ability, Perennating Bud, comes in at level 25: Breaks a stored bud: heal 40%. The advanced attack, Perennial Problem, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (about 43 damage) and mends the plant as it strikes. Most of your geraniums sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn. See Moves.
Geranium keeps a single always-on trait: Resprout. Because it draws only one eligible trait, Resprout arrives at half strength on the level 10 riser and matures on the level 68 one. When it fires it lets the plant survive one otherwise-lethal hit at roughly a quarter health, but it triggers only about 60% of the time - a coin-flip reprieve, not a guarantee. See Abilities.
Geranium carries no special trait keywords - no thorns, no toxin trait, no spore chemistry - so nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it. It is non-toxic, showing no hazard ring. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native it only plays defense, so defensive field gear - a Cloche, a small DEF amendment - best supports its poison-and-heal game.
At level 40 geranium reads 103 HP with ATK of 26. Because there is no invasive card, it never gains trait-sourced ATK; what you see is what it hits for. DEF is just 4, low in the perennial-herb band, so it takes hits with little armor. Its tempo, though, is a quick starter and slower cruiser: turn 1 runs on its high initiative (51), where it leads and lands its poison first, while every turn after runs on its SPD (34), where it is out-paced. Retreat costs 16 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and a bench HP overshield, and it never pays the invasive attacker's Faustian self-damage or extra prizes. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, geranium reaches 190 HP and 47 ATK, but its DEF only climbs to 8 - as a soft herb it banks bulk in health, almost none in armor, so it stays fragile against any real hitter. Retreat rises to 33 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature geranium loses even its early-lead edge and acts last against anything young. See Stats.
As a perennial herb, geranium 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. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play geranium as a native buffer that gets its poison down first thanks to its strong opening tempo, then heals itself while a stronger ally finishes. It works well leading a turn to apply the status, or on the bench for its overshield. It is inedible, so any nutrient banks x1.25 XP rather than coins - grow it for stats. It leads early and settles into its bulk and healing as it climbs, crossing over around level 30; higher levels always help, so keep leveling it.
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.