Solidago arguta
A fast, soft perennial herb that can survive a lethal hit and plays either role — an Eastern North American native or a European invader.
Forest goldenrod is a soft Perennial herb that fights as a fast, fragile racer with a survival safety net. It is native to Eastern North America and invasive in Europe, so the arena can cast it either way — as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker (see nativity). It hits at a fair clip but has almost no armor, so it lives and dies by speed.
Its starter attack, Stolon Reach, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 32 damage native / 32 invasive — a plain hit. The free once-per-battle ability, Autogenic Reaction, arrives at level 25: Remakes its own ground: +6 ATK and heal 25%. The advanced attack, Deep Root Strike, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (43 native / 43 invasive) and is another plain, direct hit. Most of your copies sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn.
It keeps one always-on trait: Resprout. Because it draws a single eligible trait, Resprout arrives at half strength on the level 10 riser and matures on the level 68 one. When it works, it lets the plant survive one otherwise-lethal hit at roughly a quarter health — but it fires only about 60% of the time, so treat it as a coin-flip reprieve. See Abilities.
It carries no trait keywords and no status chemistry, so nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it. It is non-toxic, with no hazard ring. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear helps offset its thin armor; as an invasive, offensive gear presses its speed advantage.
At level 40 it reads 103 HP native / 89 invasive, with ATK of 25 native versus 25 invasive — a narrow gap, so both forms play similarly. DEF is just 1, at the floor of the perennial-herb band, so it takes hits with essentially no armor. Its tempo is a slow start into a faster cruise: turn 1 runs on its lower initiative (44) and later turns on its higher SPD (47), so it is out-paced early but quick once a fight settles. Retreat costs 12 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and a benched HP overshield; as an invasive it pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench each damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, it climbs to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 44 / 44 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 1 — a soft herb gains health, never armor, so it stays extremely exposed to any hitter. Retreat rises to 23 Sun and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap. Maturing buys bulk, never protection.
As a perennial herb it is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants for ×1.5 and is struck for only ×0.667 by them; it is weak to Specialist plants, which hit it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group are neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
As a native, play it as a quick bench buffer whose cushion, overshield and survival trait prop up a sturdier active; as an invasive, it is a fast but glassy attacker that wants to land blows before it is caught. Its lack of armor caps its reliability. Its value is also economic: it is inedible, so any nutrient banks ×1.25 XP toward leveling. As a native it fights as a fast skirmisher until about level 33, and as an invasive the crossover to bulk comes around level 37 — keep leveling it.
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.