Salix bebbiana
Bebb's willow — a mid-armor northern tree with two survival tricks.
Bebb's willow is a broadleaf tree with a strong attack for its class, an immunity to Bind, and epicormic buds that can resprout it after a killing blow. It is native to East Asia, Europe, eastern North America and western North 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, Branch Slam, is available from level 1 for 2 Sun. It deals 35 damage. A heavy branch slams down.
At level 25 it gains a free, once-per-battle ability, Gap Capture: Takes the fallen giant's light: +5 ATK, kept for the match. It costs no Sun — its price is that you get one use per fight.
The advanced attack, Crown Shade, arrives at level 40 for 6 Sun, dealing 35 damage. Casts deep shade that saps 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 18 DEF and retreats for 16 Sun.
Its opening initiative (37) and sustained Speed (37) are close, so it holds a steady tempo across the fight.
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 hardens into a wall. HP rises to 190 and its wood-density armor to 40 DEF, while ATK climbs to 49. It also grows more rooted — retreat climbs to 33 Sun — and its tempo sinks toward its floor, so an old tree wins by mass and armor, not by moving first.
In the succession chart its category, Broadleaf tree, 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 across the northern hemisphere and invasive nowhere, it is a durable native buffer that also hits respectably. A solid, dependable wall for single-player runs.
It has no resolved edible part, so any fertilizer you feed it banks ×1.25 XP rather than coins — treat it as a growth boost.
One note on leveling: it fights as a faster skirmisher until about level 22, 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.