Juniperus squamata
A native-only conifer that walls up, heals in the sun, and can revive and rebalance the bench through its Mother Tree ability.
Flaky juniper is a low, tough Conifer that fights as a defensive anchor: it soaks hits behind heavy armor, mends itself in the sun, and can channel the grove to steady the whole bench. It is native to East Asia, Europe, and South Asia, and no invasive card exists — the arena only ever fields it as a native buffer for your bench. As a conifer it is genuinely tanky, but its damage is ordinary, so it is a wall and support piece rather than a finisher.
Its starter attack, Smothering Pollen, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, raking the foe with stiff needles for about 26 damage. The free once-per-battle ability, Fire-Sealed Vault, arrives at level 25: Cones that only fire can open: +4 ATK and heal 20%. It is a powerful team move that can pull a fallen ally back, so hold it for the moment it swings a fight. The advanced attack, Evergreen Grudge, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (34 native) and lands a strong, year-round blow. Most of your junipers 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.
Flaky juniper keeps two always-on traits. From the level 10 riser it carries Photosynthesis at full strength — it heals in sunny weather — but it rides the sustain chance, firing only about 60% of the time, so the heal is a coin-flip rather than a guarantee, and it does nothing when the sky is not sunny. On the level 68 riser it adds Network: while benched, it projects a Sun overshield onto your active, the canopy-tree bench buff. These are separate from its once-per-battle Mother Tree ability, which does the heavy team support. See Abilities.
Flaky juniper 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 — leans into its wall game.
At level 40 flaky juniper reads 140 HP and 22 ATK. DEF is 22, up in the conifer band where armor is a real wall, so it soaks hits far better than any herb or grass. Its tempo: turn 1 runs on its initiative (18) and every turn after on its SPD (30) — compare the two to see whether it opens fast and fades or starts slow and cruises. Damage against it is diminishing armor (ATK ÷ (ATK+DEF)), not flat subtraction. Retreat costs 20 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, flaky juniper climbs to 276 HP and 38 ATK, and as a conifer its DEF reaches 49 — a genuine wall that keeps it hard to dent at the top of the ladder. Retreat rises to 44 Sun as it roots in, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature juniper acts last against almost anything young. Maturing buys durability and team support at the cost of ever moving first.
As a conifer, flaky juniper sits in the Specialist succession group. It hits Competitor plants (perennial herbs, vines, shrubs, broadleaf trees) for ×1.5 and takes only ×0.667 from them; it is weak to Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs), which strike it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Specialists and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play flaky juniper as a native wall and team medic: its high DEF, HP cushion, overshield, and sunny-day heal let it absorb punishment while the Mother Tree ability rebalances the bench and can revive a fallen ally, and its Specialist typing makes it a strong answer to Competitor teams. Its own damage is modest, so it protects and enables rather than finishes. On economy, it is inedible, so it earns no fertilizer coin bonus — any nutrient banks ×1.25 XP instead, a steady growth boost. It plays as a slow, durable supporter whose bulk grows more decisive with level, crossing over around level 6 — 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.