Spiraea chamaedryfolia
A quick-starting shrub that supports the bench with heals and revives as a native, and hits harder with a draining attack where it has naturalized.
Elm leaf spiraea is a Shrub that plays as a bench supporter with a firm-enough body to front a fight. It is native to East Asia and Europe, where it plays as a native buffer, and invasive in eastern North America, where it becomes an attacker. Its kit leans on keeping its own bench alive, which makes it a team card more than a solo one.
Its moves unlock across three levels. The starter Bramble Lash unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun: A thorny lash. It hits for 34 native and 37 invasive. The free once-per-battle ability Nurse Shrub unlocks at level 25 and costs no Sun: Shelters the whole bench — evens their health, and calls the fallen back. That bench-wide heal and revive is the heart of the card. The advanced attack Thorn Wall unlocks at level 40 and costs 6 Sun: A bristling, draining blow. It deals 37 native and 39 invasive, and the draining part returns some of that damage as healing. None of its moves carry the initiative rider.
It keeps two always-on traits, arriving at different levels. Sclerophylly comes in at level 10: its stiff leaves shave a flat amount off every incoming direct attack, a layer of armor on top of DEF. Drupe mast stacks on at level 68: whenever any card is knocked out, it heals the card's own bench for a slice of their max HP, reinforcing the same keep-the-bench-alive plan its ability follows. For most of a card's life it has only the sclerophylly damage reduction; the on-knockout bench heal is a late unlock.
It carries no special trait keywords. For field gear, a native buffer copy wants defensive amendments to firm its shrub armor further, while an invasive attacker copy wants offense to push its higher ATK; a Cloche guards against Poison on either side. It is not a climber, so it takes no Moss Pole.
At level 40, HP is 103 as a native (including the +15% cushion) against 89 invasive. ATK rises from 24 native to 31 invasive — a solid step, and the highest invasive ATK you will see in this batch of shrubs. DEF is 11, in the shrub's firmer band. On tempo, initiative 42 orders the first turn and SPD 34 orders the turns after, and here the shape is reversed from most fast cards: it is a quick starter — high initiative lands the first hit — but a slower cruiser that gets out-paced as the fight drags on. Retreat costs 14 Sun. As a native it projects a green HP overshield bar from the bench; as an invasive it pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench on each damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes on a knockout.
It matures into a heavier supporter. HP climbs to 190 native and 165 invasive, and ATK to 43 native and 62 invasive. DEF firms to 23, tougher than its level 40 read but still a shrub's mid band rather than a tree's wall. Retreat rises to 29 Sun as it roots in, and its early tempo edge has faded to a sliver by the cap — the quick-starter advantage that defines it young is largely gone late, so a grown copy wins on stats and its bench heals instead.
As a shrub it is a Competitor succession group card. It deals x1.5 to Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) and resists them down to x0.667, but it loses to Specialists (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), who hit it for x1.5. Against other Competitors and the Weird categories the matchup is neutral.
Run this one for its bench support. Its ability evens out and heals the whole bench and calls back a fallen ally, and drupe mast keeps topping the bench up on every knockout, so it shines on a full team you want to keep healthy through a long fight. Its high initiative means it reliably lands the first blow, which pairs well with the draining advanced attack to open on tempo before settling into support. Invasive, its ATK is the strongest of these shrubs and it is a legitimate attacker, at the usual Faustian cost to its bench. It is not edible, so any fertilizer banks x1.25 XP toward leveling rather than coins; value it as a team piece and a family-tree entry. As a native it leans on that opening tempo until about level 25 (around level 26 invasive), after which its bulk and attack carry 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.