Hieracium fendleri
Fendler's hawkweed is a native-only perennial-herb card, a fast but fragile skirmisher that snowballs its own attack if it survives.
Fendler's hawkweed is a perennial-herb card. It is native to eastern and western North America and to South America, and invasive nowhere, so it only ever plays the native buffer role — there is no attacker version. As a soft-bodied herb it is a fast, fragile skirmisher rather than a tank; see categories.
Its opening attack is Rhizome Creep, unlocked at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing 29 by creeping underground into the foe's back row. Its free once-per-battle ability, Autogenic Reaction, unlocks at level 25, costs no Sun and deals no damage — it grants +6 ATK and heals the card 25%. The advanced attack Taproot Canal unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun, dealing 26 and drawing the foe dry. No move carries an initiative rider. See moves.
This card keeps two always-on traits. Basal-rosette arrives on the level 10 riser and gives a flat +3 DEF for the whole match, the low rosette hugging the ground against grazing. Contractile-roots stacks on at level 68 and builds DEF as the fight drags on: it adds +1 DEF each checkup, up to +5 DEF in total, as the roots pull the crown deeper. Both are passive, in force from the moment they unlock and lasting the whole match. For most of a card's climb it holds only basal-rosette. See abilities.
As a perennial herb it is not a climber and takes no Moss Pole. Its DEF is essentially nil, so armor gear does little; it is better served leaning on its high sustained speed. A calcium/magnesium amendment adds a small flat DEF cushion if you want it. See field gear.
At the snapshot level 40 it carries 103 HP and a minimal DEF of 1 — the softest in its region — with a retreat cost of 12 Sun. Its tempo is its strength: initiative of 29 orders turn 1 and a high SPD of 50 orders later turns, so it is a strong sustained cruiser that out-paces most foes from turn 2 on, even if its opening is only middling. As a native it gains the +15% HP cushion and a benched overshield contribution. Being invasive nowhere, it has no attacker stat line. See stats.
Matured to level 100 it is a soft weed: native HP grows to 190 but its DEF stays minimal at 2, so it never hardens. The retreat cost rises to 23 Sun, and the inverted tempo has fallen to roughly its 1% floor, so it loses the speed lead that defines it earlier. Leveling adds bulk but not the survivability it most needs.
As a perennial herb it is a Competitor. It deals ×1.5 to Ruderal cards (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) and takes ×1.5 from Specialists (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), whose armor also resists its hits down to ×0.667. It trades evenly with other Competitors and the neutral Weird group. See weaknesses & resistances.
This is a fast but fragile skirmisher: its high SPD means it usually strikes first from turn 2 onward, and its ability buffs ATK while healing, so a hawkweed that survives the early exchanges can snowball. The problem is durability — with DEF near zero it is glass, cannot tank anything, and needs a bench to cover it. Treat it as a support skirmisher or a family-tree collection piece rather than an anchor. It is not edible, so any fertilizer banks a ×1.25 XP boost rather than coins. As a low-biomass herb it stays tempo-favored until about level 28, after which its rising bulk and attack take over.
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.