Rubus adenotrichos
A wild Andean blackberry — a mid-armor shrub with bench pressure and a festering Poison.
The wild blackberry is a mid-armor shrub whose kit drops fruit onto the bench and drives a festering-thorn Poison. It is native to eastern North America, western North America and South America and invasive nowhere the game tracks. So it plays only as a native buffer.
Its kit unlocks in three steps, so most of the time you field it below the level where the whole thing is live. The starter attack, Drupe Drop, is available from level 1 for 2 Sun. It deals 26 damage. Drops fruit — also nicks the bench.
At level 25 it gains a free, once-per-battle ability, Frugivore Pact: Trades fruit for carriage: +3 ATK, and the foe's whole bench sickens. It costs no Sun — its price is that you get one use per fight.
The advanced attack, Thorn in the Side, arrives at level 40 for 6 Sun, dealing 31 damage. A thorn that festers — Poison the foe.
See Moves and Abilities for how the slots and Sun costs work.
A card keeps at most two always-on traits — drawn deterministically, with the rest of its category pool dropped for good. This one draws two, and they arrive at different levels:
Those are the only two it holds; everything else in its category's pool was passed over. See Abilities for the full trait list.
It carries no special keyword chips — it is not tagged toxic or thorned, and it is not a climber, so a Moss Pole does not fit it.
As a hard-bodied card it makes good use of a Calcium/Magnesium soil amendment, which adds flat DEF on top of its already-solid armor. See Field gear for the amendments and how they attach.
Numbers here are read at level 40, where every slot is unlocked. It reads 13 DEF and retreats for 15 Sun.
It opens fast and fades: it tends to land the first blow (opening initiative 36) but is out-paced from turn two onward (sustained Speed 32).
As a native it carries a +15% HP cushion (103 HP), and while it sits on your bench it projects a green HP overshield onto your active, sized by its rarity. It is invasive nowhere, so it never plays as an attacker — it is a buffer.
The overshield, the Sun economy and damage-as-a-ratio are explained on Stats.
By level 100 it firms up without becoming a tree: HP reaches 190 and its mid-band armor 27 DEF, while ATK climbs to 39. Retreat rises to 31 Sun and its tempo sinks toward its floor.
In the succession chart its category, Shrub, is a Competitor. It deals ×1.5 damage to annual forbs, grasses, aquatics and bulbs, but succulents, conifers, ferns and epiphytes hit it for ×1.5 and resist its attacks in return (×0.667). Against everything else it is neutral.
The full wheel is on Weaknesses & resistances.
Native to the Americas and invasive nowhere, it is a serviceable buffer-attacker with real staying power, and its fruit crop earns coins. A better-than-average card in this batch.
On the economy side, it is edible (the eaten part is the fruit), so feeding it Phosphorus — the fertilizer that matches a fruit — pays ×1.25 coins, while any other nutrient banks ×1.25 XP instead.
One note on leveling: it fights as a faster skirmisher until about level 21, after which its growing bulk and attack take over as the dominant edge. It is stronger overall at higher levels — turn order is only a small lever — 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.