Rhus coriaria
A middling native shrub that leads the opening turn, buffs your bench, hardens when hurt and taunts from level 68 — as much a coin and collection piece as a threat.
Tanner's sumach is a Shrub that fights as a modest native buffer with a fast opening step and average damage. It is native to Africa, East Asia and Europe, and no invasive card exists, so it plays only as a native buffer, never as an attacker. Its stats are middling, so it is more a collection and coin piece than a front-line threat, though it does harden at low HP and taunt late.
Its starter attack, Snarl, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 30 damage as a native. The free once-per-battle ability, Bramble Barrier, arrives at level 25: A wall of thorns — the foe withers against it. The advanced attack, Sucker Punch, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (35 native) and binds the target in place. Most of your tanner's sumach sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
Tanner's sumach runs a trait on each riser. Marcescence (level 10) converts retained dead leaves into +4 DEF once the card drops to half HP or below. Sapromyophily (level 68) makes the dense sumac stand the decoy in any group pick. See Abilities.
Tanner's sumach is non-toxic, so there is no contact recoil and no poison rider — striking it costs an attacker nothing. Its 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 DEF — firms up its middling armor. See statuses.
At level 40 tanner's sumach reads 103 HP with ATK of 25. DEF is 13, in the firmer shrub band, so it holds a hit better than a soft herb but is no wall. Its tempo is front-loaded: turn 1 runs on a strong initiative (47) so it leads the opening exchange, but every turn after runs on a lower SPD (34), so it is out-paced in a long fight. Retreat costs 16 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, tanner's sumach swells to 190 HP and 45 ATK, and its DEF firms to 28 — a real gain for a shrub, though still short of a tree's wall. Retreat rises to 33 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature sumach acts last against almost anything younger.
As a shrub, tanner's sumach 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 tanner's sumach as a native buffer: bench it to lend your active the HP cushion and overshield, and lead with it when you want the fast turn-1 step before its tempo fades. It is an average card overall on damage, so its main value is filling out the family tree and generating coins — its traits are useful rather than decisive. On economy, it is edible with a resolved fruit, so feeding it Phosphorus pays ×1.25 coins, while any other nutrient banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth. It plays as a quick-opening skirmisher that leans on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 26 — but it is always stronger at higher levels, 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.