Ruellia makoyana
A weak, slow South American perennial herb that plays only as a native buffer, best treated as a collection piece or minor stalling support.
Monkey plant is a perennial herb grown for its foliage. It is native to South America and holds no invasive range, so it only plays the native buffer role — there is no attacker version of it.
The starter, Bitter Sap, unlocks at Lv 1 for 2 Sun and hits for 26 while poisoning the foe. The free once-per-battle ability, Hemicryptophyte Hold, unlocks at Lv 25 and binds the foe low to the ground while withering it. The advanced attack, Herbaceous Assault, arrives at Lv 40 for 6 Sun, dealing 29 and wilting the foe. No move carries the initiative rider. See moves.
It keeps two always-on traits. Bitter Principle, from the Lv 10 riser, Withers any attacker that lands a damaging hit on it — a stacking -ATK debuff of two stacks per hit. Deep Taproot, from the Lv 68 riser, makes it immune to Bind, so it can never be held in place and can always retreat. Neither is a 60% sustain-heal trait, so both are steady passives once unlocked.
It holds no thorns, Toxin or Unpalatable contact-recoil trait, so it is safe to strike. It is not a climber, so no Moss Pole. Its thin armor means a Calcium/Magnesium field gear amendment is the most useful thing you can equip on it.
At Lv 40 it carries 103 HP (with the +15% cushion) but only 4 DEF and the lowest ATK in this group at 15. Its opening tempo 28 is the lowest here and sits below its sustained tempo 34, so it is slow to act on turn 1 and only moderate after — a sluggish card overall. The starter costs 2 Sun, the advanced 6, retreat 16 Sun. As a common species its bench overshield bar is a sliver. See stats.
HP grows to 190 and ATK to 25, but DEF only reaches 8 — it stays soft its whole life. Retreat rises to 33 Sun and the inverted tempo sinks to its ~1% floor. From Lv 52 it regenerates Sun in battle; at Lv 85 the starter is free.
As a perennial herb it is a Competitor: ×1.5 into Ruderal cards, ×0.667 into Specialists (who hit it for ×1.5), even against other Competitors and the Weird group.
Be honest with this one: it is a weak card. Low ATK, thin armor and slow tempo mean it will lose most straight fights, and its poison and bind-and-wilt moves only slow the inevitable. Its realistic uses are as a minor stalling support behind a stronger attacker, and as a collection piece for the family tree. It is inedible, so fertilizer banks ×1.25 XP, never coins. As a native its power curve overtakes its tempo curve around Lv 23, but at any level it plays as a soft, disposable support.
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.