Tsuga caroliniana
A well-armored Eastern North American conifer that opens fast, buffs its bench, and heals in the sun — a native-only card.
Carolina hemlock is a sturdy Conifer that fights as a defensive bench-support tree: it opens quickly, spreads its first hit across the enemy bench, and mends in the sun. It is native to Eastern North America (a near-threatened species in the wild) and has no invasive form, so the arena only ever plays it as a native buffer. It is a solid, defense-first card that supports a team more than it carries one.
Its starter attack, Cone, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 25 damage and splashing some onto the opponent's benched plants. The free once-per-battle ability, Resin Seal, arrives at level 25: Seals the wound with resin: heal 40%. It raises the plant's attack for the fight. The advanced attack, Conifer Conniption, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (36 damage), a plain hit. Most of your hemlocks sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn.
Hemlock keeps two always-on abilities. Photosynthesis arrives on the level 10 riser and heals the plant while it stands in sun, but it triggers only about 60% of the time, so treat it as a frequent bonus rather than a guarantee. At level 68 it gains Network, a canopy-tree trait: while benched it projects a gold Sun overshield bar onto your active plant, protecting the front line from the sidelines.
Hemlock carries no special trait keywords — no thorns, no toxin chemistry — so nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it. It is non-toxic: no contact recoil and no poison rider. 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 for extra DEF) reinforces its already-solid armor.
At level 40 hemlock reads 140 HP with ATK of 19. It is a native-only card, so it has no separate invasive attacker form. DEF is 19, sitting in the conifer band, one of the sturdier defensive tiers in the game, so it soaks chip damage well. Its tempo is front-loaded: turn 1 runs on a high initiative (23), but every turn after runs on a much lower SPD (8), so it leads the opening exchange and is out-paced afterward. Retreat costs 18 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, an HP overshield onto your active. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, hemlock swells to 276 HP and 33 ATK, and as a conifer its DEF climbs to 43 — it becomes a heavily armored wall that is hard to grind down. Retreat rises to 38 Sun as it roots deeper, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so it acts last against almost anything young. Maturing trades its opening speed for durability.
As a conifer, hemlock is in the Specialist succession group. It hits Competitor plants for ×1.5 and is struck for only ×0.667 by them; it is weak to Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs), which hit it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Specialists and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play hemlock as a native wall and bench support: open with its splash hit to soften the enemy bench, then hold the front while its Network overshield and sun-healing protect the team. Its solid armor and defensive risers make it a dependable buffer rather than a finisher. It is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward leveling rather than coins, making it a steady growth investment. It fights as a fast opener early and settles into an armored wall as it levels, crossing over around level 1 — 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.