Syzygium buxifolium
A firm-bodied shrub that plays only as a native buffer, built around bench-wide support moves and an edible fruit that pays coins.
Boxleaf eugenia is a shrub — firmer than a herb, softer than a tree. It is native to East Asia and South Asia and holds no invasive range, so it only plays the native buffer role; there is no attacker version of it.
The starter, Chipmunk Horde, unlocks at Lv 1 for 2 Sun, dealing 25 across the foe's whole bench. The free once-per-battle ability, Nurse Shrub, unlocks at Lv 25: it evens your bench's health and calls back a fallen ally. The advanced attack, Thorn Wall, arrives at Lv 40 for 6 Sun and lands a draining 36 blow. No move carries the initiative rider. See moves.
It keeps two always-on traits. Extrafloral Nectaries, from the Lv 10 riser, recruits ant bodyguards: any attacker that lands a damaging hit on it is chipped for about 3% of its max HP, a flat loss that ignores DEF and the overshield. Lignotuber, from the Lv 68 riser, makes it immune to Burn — and better still, a Burn that would land instead heals it for about 4% of its max HP. Neither is one of the 60% sustain-heal traits, so both are steady passives that apply once unlocked.
It holds no thorns, Toxin or Unpalatable contact-recoil trait, despite the flavor of its advanced attack. It is not a climber, so no Moss Pole. A Calcium/Magnesium field gear amendment builds on its already-decent shrub armor.
At Lv 40 it carries 103 HP (with the +15% native cushion) and a DEF of 13 — middling, firmer than the herbs in this group. ATK is a modest 20. Its opening tempo 37 is a little above its sustained tempo 34, so it opens slightly quick then settles. The starter costs 2 Sun, the advanced 6, retreat 16 Sun. As a common species its bench overshield bar is a sliver. See stats.
HP grows to 190 and ATK to 35, while DEF firms up to 28 — a solid shrub wall, short of a tree's. Retreat rises to 33 Sun and the inverted tempo sinks to its ~1% floor. From Lv 52 it regenerates Sun in battle; at Lv 85 the starter is free.
As a shrub it is a Competitor: ×1.5 into Ruderal cards, ×0.667 into Specialists (who hit it for ×1.5), even against other Competitors and the Weird group.
Boxleaf eugenia is a team-support card: both its starter and advanced attacks reach the enemy bench, and its ability heals and revives your own, so it rewards a full bench rather than a solo push. Its own ATK is modest, so it is more of an enabler than a finisher. It is edible with the fruit as the eaten part, so Phosphorus fertilizer pays ×1.25 coins (other nutrients bank ×1.25 XP). As a native its power curve overtakes its tempo curve around Lv 23.
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.