Hypericum perfoliatum
A modest perennial herb that trades evenly and clings to life with a single lucky survival trait, playing either arena role — a native of Africa and Europe or a South American invader.
St John's Wort is a low, hardy Perennial herb that fights as a plain even-trader: reliable hits, middling damage, and a habit of clinging to life. It is native to Africa and Europe and invasive in South America, so the arena can cast it either way — as a native buffer for your bench or as an invasive attacker. It is an unspectacular card whose main virtue is toughness rather than punch; it wants a stronger hitter beside it.
Its starter attack, Rhizome Creep, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing a reliable, even hit for about 29 damage as a native and 29 as an invasive. The free once-per-battle ability, Alkaloid Reservoir, arrives at level 25: Empties a season of alkaloids into the foe — saturating Poison. It is a mid-fight mend that suits its stalling game. The advanced attack, Perennial Problem, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (42 native / 42 invasive) and draws on deep roots for a heavier blow. Most of your specimens sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn. See Moves.
St John's Wort keeps a single always-on trait, Resprout, and because it draws only one eligible trait, that slot is all it gets. Resprout arrives at half strength on the level 10 riser and matures on the level 68 one. When it works it lets the plant survive one otherwise-lethal hit at roughly a quarter of its health — but it fires only about 60% of the time, so treat it as a lucky reprieve, not a plan. See Abilities.
St John's Wort carries no special trait keywords — no thorns, no toxin, no spore chemistry — so nothing punishes an attacker for striking it; it is non-toxic, so nothing chemical punishes a hit. Its growth 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 for a little extra DEF — suits its stalling game; as an invasive, offensive gear makes its heavier attack count.
At level 40 St John's Wort reads 103 HP native / 89 invasive, with ATK of 23 native versus 23 invasive — compare the two to judge how much the invasive form actually threatens. DEF is just 4, at the soft floor of the perennial-herb band, so it soaks hits with almost no armor. Its tempo: turn 1 runs on its initiative (13) and every turn after on its SPD (34) — read the two to see whether it opens fast and fades, starts slow and cruises, or plays evenly. 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, St John's Wort swells to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 41 / 43 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 8 — as a soft herb it buys bulk in health and almost none in armor, so it stays exposed to any real hitter. Retreat rises to 33 Sun as it roots in, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature specimen acts last against almost anything younger.
As a perennial herb, St John's Wort 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 and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play St John's Wort as a cheap, sturdy filler that trades evenly and occasionally cheats death. As a native it is a fair buffer — the HP cushion and bench overshield help a fragile hitter survive — while its invasive form leans on marginally higher ATK to threaten a little more damage at the cost of bleeding its own bench. On economy, it is inedible, so it earns no fertilizer coin bonus — any nutrient banks ×1.25 XP instead, a modest growth boost. It fights as a plain even-trader whose bulk grows with level, crossing over around level 12 as a native and 16 as an invasive — and it is always stronger at higher levels in raw stats, 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.