Spiraea japonica
A thorned shrub that punishes attackers on contact and hits hard as an invader, playing either role — an Asian native or a wide invader.
Japanese Spiraea is a mid-sized Shrub that fights as a quick opener with a nasty edge: it leads turn 1 and its thorns bite back at anything that strikes it. It is native to East Asia and South Asia and invasive across Europe, eastern and western North America, and South America, so the arena can cast it either way — as a native buffer or an invasive attacker. It is a solid card whose thorns and strong invasive ATK make it more than a filler.
Its starter attack, Frère Brer, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 28 damage as a native and 32 as an invasive — a plain hit with no rider. The free once-per-battle ability, Facilitation, arrives at level 25: Shelters its own and starves the rest: heal 50%, and the foe's bench withers. It raises the plant's attack for the fight. The advanced attack, Thorn in the Side, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (30 native / 34 invasive) and saps the target, wearing it down. Most of your spiraeas sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn.
Japanese Spiraea keeps a single always-on ability: Thorns. It arrives on the level 10 riser and is on for the rest of the plant's life. Thorns deal recoil damage back to any plant that lands a contact hit on it, so aggressive attackers pay a price for engaging. Unlike healing traits it is not a chance effect — the recoil applies whenever it is struck. See Abilities.
Japanese Spiraea carries the Thorns trait keyword, which drives its contact recoil; see statuses for how recoil resolves. It is non-toxic: no poison rider, and its recoil is physical rather than a hazard ring. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear (a Cloche, a Ca/Mg amendment) makes it an even stickier wall to attack into; as an invasive, lean into offense.
At level 40 Japanese Spiraea reads 103 HP as a native and 89 as an invasive, with ATK of 20 native versus 31 invasive — the invasive form gains a strong edge (native ATK 20 to invasive ATK 29). DEF is 11, in the middle shrub band, so it has modest armor to pair with its thorns. Its tempo is front-loaded: turn 1 runs on a high initiative (40), with a still-brisk SPD (36) afterward, so it leads early and stays reasonably quick. Retreat costs 14 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, an HP overshield onto your active; as an invasive it pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench on each damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, Japanese Spiraea swells to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 35 / 64 ATK, with DEF reaching 22 — a shrub gains real health and a moderate amount of armor, toughening up without ever becoming a true wall. Retreat rises to 29 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so its early speed edge is gone. Maturing buys bulk and damage while keeping its ever-present thorns.
As a shrub, Japanese Spiraea is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for ×1.5 and is struck for only ×0.667 by them; it is weak to Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which hit it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play Japanese Spiraea as a punishing wall or an aggressive invader. As a native its thorns, HP cushion, and bench overshield make it painful to attack into and a fine buffer; as an invasive its strong ATK, attack buff, and sap turn it into a real threat, at the cost of chipping its own bench. Its thorns are always on, so it works well against melee-heavy opponents. It is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward leveling rather than coins. It fights as a fast opener early and grows into a thorny bruiser as it levels, crossing over around level 26 as a native and 26 as an invasive — but it is always stronger at higher levels, 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.