Leucothoe fontanesiana
A shade shrub that plays either role but hits softly, leaning on shrub armor and a heal more than on damage.
Fetter-bush is an evergreen Shrub that fights as a low-damage, moderately armored trader. It is native to Eastern North America and invasive in Europe, so the arena can cast it either way — as a native buffer for your bench or as an invasive attacker. It is a below-average hitter: its attack is soft even in the invasive role, so it earns its place through shrub armor and a heal rather than through offense. See nativity.
Its starter attack, Snarl, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 27 damage native / 29 invasive — a plain hit with no rider. The free once-per-battle ability, Arrested Succession, arrives at level 25: Stops the forest before it starts — the foe stalls and can't heal. Its advanced attack, Thicket, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (33 / 34) and saps the target, withering it as it strikes. Most of your specimens sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. See moves.
Fetter-bush carries one working trait per riser. Extrafloral Nectaries (level 10) bills any attacker 3% of its own max HP for contact, past DEF and the overshield. Lignotuber (level 68) makes the shrub Burn-proof — and a Burn thrown at it becomes a heal. See Abilities.
It carries no trait keywords — no thorns, no toxin — so nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it, and it is non-toxic with no hazard ring. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear such as a Cloche or a Ca/Mg amendment stacks with its shrub armor; as an invasive, offensive gear helps offset its weak base ATK.
At level 40 it reads 121 HP native / 106 invasive, with ATK of 19 native versus 24 invasive — the invasive jump helps, but even so its damage is low for its cost. DEF is 11, mid in the shrub band, giving it a little real armor. Its tempo is uneven: turn 1 runs on a modest initiative (25), so it is out-paced off the mark, but every turn after runs on a higher SPD (33), so it grows relentless in a long fight. Retreat costs 14 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and projects a bench HP overshield; 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 it swells to 233 HP native / 203 invasive and 34 / 46 ATK, and as a shrub its DEF climbs to 21 — a moderate wall that blunts lesser hitters, though its offense stays modest. Retreat rises to 27 Sun and its tempo sinks to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature bush acts last against almost anything younger. Maturing buys bulk and armor more than punch.
As a shrub it sits 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.
As a native, this is a decent bench wall: its shrub armor and HP cushion prop up a fragile hitter, and its heal lets it soak for a while. As an invasive, it is a stopgap attacker at best — the soft ATK means it grinds rather than threatens, so lean on the withering advance to chip bulkier foes. Overall it is a serviceable but unexciting body. Its value is also economic: it is inedible, so any nutrient banks x1.25 XP rather than coins. It fights as a slow-opening skirmisher whose bulk takes over as it levels, crossing around level 14 — always stronger in raw stats higher up, so never 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.