Podocarpus macrophyllus
A conifer Specialist that walls up and backs the bench with a Sun overshield, native in East and South Asia and invasive widely abroad.
The yew plum pine is a Conifer that plays as a durable, defensive evergreen with a strong support tilt. Its nativity role runs both ways: it is native across East Asia and South Asia, where it buffers your team, and it has naturalised as an invasive in Europe, eastern North America, Oceania and South America, where it plays as a firmer attacker.
Its starter attack, Blazing Pitch, is available from Lv 1 for 2 Sun (Flings burning pitch — the foe catches.), dealing 27 native and 29 invasive. The free once-per-battle ability, Old-Growth Stand, unlocks at Lv 25: Ancient and immovable: heal 70%, and the foe is pinned. It deals no damage and costs no Sun, and a strong self-heal on a wall like this is its best turn. The advanced attack, Evergreen Strike, unlocks at Lv 40 for 6 Sun (A strong, year-round blow.), hitting for 40 native and 42 invasive. No move carries an initiative rider.
It keeps two always-on traits that arrive at different times. Xylem Tracheids comes in at Lv 10, working from early in the card's life. Network stacks on at Lv 68: as a canopy conifer, a benched yew plum pine becomes a Network carrier and projects a gold Sun overshield bar onto your active, backing up its Sun bar once the base one runs dry. Until Lv 68 you have only the first trait, so the Sun support is a late-game addition. Neither trait is a chance-based sustain heal.
The yew plum pine carries no special trait keywords, and as a conifer it is not a climber, so it takes no Moss Pole. Its standout piece of kit is the Network Sun overshield it grants from the bench once Network arrives — useful behind a Sun-hungry active of any nativity. For other field gear, a native copy pairs well with defensive amendments; an invasive copy leans on its attack.
At Lv 40 a native reads 103 HP to an invasive's 89, the native carrying the +15% cushion. ATK is 19 native versus 24 invasive, the step reflecting its introduced range rather than any flat multiplier. DEF is 21, firm for a conifer and rising with level; damage against it scales by ATK divided by (ATK + DEF). On tempo it opens at initiative 32 and sustains at SPD 51, so it is a middling starter that actually cruises a little faster once past turn 1. Retreat is 16 Sun. A native on the bench adds a green HP overshield bar; benched, it also adds the gold Sun bar from Network. As an invasive it pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench each damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes on a knockout.
By Lv 100 its DEF climbs to 48, a conifer-grade wall set by category and wood density, with HP reaching 190 native and 165 invasive and ATK 33 / 46. Retreat rises to 33 Sun. Its tempo, only ever high in relative terms when young, has fallen near its floor, so the mature card is a slow, hard evergreen that wins by outlasting rather than out-racing.
As a conifer it is in the Specialist succession group. It hits Competitor plants (perennial-herb, vine, shrub, broadleaf-tree) for ×1.5 and resists them at ×0.667, but it is on the losing side against Ruderals (annual-forb, grass, aquatic, bulb).
A native yew plum pine is a strong bench piece: it feeds both the HP overshield and, from Lv 68, a Sun overshield, and it walls up well when brought active thanks to the big heal on Old-Growth Stand. An invasive copy is a sturdier-than-usual attacker, but account for the Faustian bench damage and the 2 prizes it concedes. It is not edible, so fertilizer banks ×1.25 XP rather than coins. As a bulky conifer it favours power over speed from early on — it crosses into power-first play around Lv 27 native and Lv 29 invasive, and only hardens from there.
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.