Symplocarpus foetidus
A native-only oddity whose every move poisons, trading paper-thin defenses for relentless damage over time.
Eastern skunk cabbage is a wetland Carrion aroid that fights as a pure poison attacker. It is native to Eastern North America and has no invasive form, so the arena only ever fields it as a native. It is an unusual, fragile card: all three of its slots apply poison, so it excels at stacking damage over time, but with almost no armor it is a glass cannon that folds the moment something hits back hard. See nativity.
Its starter attack, Spadix Jab, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun for about 35 damage and leaves the target poisoned, bleeding health over the following turns — see statuses. The free once-per-battle ability, Putrid Climax, arrives at level 25: Rot at its peak — the foe withers and can't heal. Its advanced attack, Spathe Invader, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (22 damage) and applies more poison on top. Most of your specimens sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. See moves.
Eastern skunk cabbage holds two working traits, and both are the real plant translated directly. Thermogenesis (level 10) is its most famous property — this species melts its way up through snow — and in play it stacks a Burn on the enemy active every checkup. Corm Reserve (level 68) is the massive underground corm: a 35% chance to survive a lethal hit, coming back at 30% HP with its statuses shed. See Abilities.
Despite its notorious smell, it carries no trait keywords and is non-toxic on contact — its attacks poison, but touching it does not recoil onto an attacker, and it shows no hazard ring. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear such as a Cloche helps it live long enough for its poison to matter, since its base DEF is at the floor.
At level 40 it reads 103 HP with 25 ATK; there is no invasive form, so it has only the one attack line. DEF is just 1, at the very bottom of its band, so it takes hits with essentially no armor. Its tempo is even: turn 1 runs on its initiative (38) and every turn after on its SPD (38), which sit at the same value, so it is neither a fast opener nor a fast cruiser. Retreat costs 12 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active. See Stats.
Matured to level 100 it swells to 190 HP and 44 ATK, but its DEF stays pinned at 1 — it gains health and nothing resembling armor, so even at the cap a single strong hit can end it. Retreat rises to 23 Sun and its tempo sinks to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature plant acts last against almost anything younger. Maturing buys HP to survive one more turn of poisoning, not durability.
Skunk cabbage sits in the off-wheel Weird succession group, which is neutral both ways: it deals and takes normal damage against every group, with no x1.5 bonus to exploit and no x0.667 resistance to lean on. Play it on raw stats and poison alone. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play it as a fragile poison engine: get it in, stack poison from all three slots, and try to trade its short life for a large pile of damage-over-time on the enemy active. It works best sent in against a target you can outlast, and poorly against fast, hard hitters that kill it before the poison pays off. As a native it can also sit benched to cushion a partner, but its real job is offense. Its value is also economic: it is inedible, so any nutrient banks x1.25 XP rather than coins. Its tempo is flat, so its bulk takes over only slowly as it levels, crossing around level 26 — always stronger in raw stats higher up, so never 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.