Urtica gracilis
A native-only herb that opens with poison and heals itself but has thin armor, played as a bench buffer.
Slender nettle is a low Perennial herb that fights as a self-healing skirmisher with a poison opener. It is native to Eastern and Western North America and South America and has no invasive form, so the arena only ever plays it as a native buffer - there is no attacker version. It is a modest card: persistent through poison and heal, but thin on armor.
Its starter attack, Rhizome Creep, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 31 damage and leaving poison on the target (see statuses). The free once-per-battle ability, Hemicryptophyte Hold, comes in at level 25: Hunkers at ground level — Bind and Wither the foe. The advanced attack, Crown Division, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (about 44 damage) and mends the plant as it strikes. Most of your nettles sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn. See Moves.
Nettle keeps a single always-on trait: Resprout. Because it draws only one eligible trait, Resprout arrives at half strength on the level 10 riser and matures on the level 68 one. When it fires it lets the plant survive one otherwise-lethal hit at roughly a quarter health, but it triggers only about 60% of the time - a coin-flip reprieve, not a guarantee. See Abilities.
Despite the real plant's sting, this card carries no contact-recoil trait keyword and holds no Toxin trait, so nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it. It is non-toxic in game terms, showing no hazard ring. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native it only plays defense, so defensive field gear helps offset its thin armor.
At level 40 nettle reads 103 HP with ATK of 28. Because there is no invasive card, it never gains trait-sourced ATK; what you see is what it hits for. DEF is just 4, low in the perennial-herb band, so it takes hits with little armor. Its tempo is a slow starter and faster cruiser: turn 1 runs on its initiative (13), where it is badly out-paced, and every turn after on its SPD (34), where it recovers to grind on. Retreat costs 16 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and a bench HP overshield, and it never pays the invasive attacker's Faustian self-damage or extra prizes. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, nettle reaches 190 HP and 51 ATK, but its DEF only climbs to 8 - as a soft herb it banks bulk in health, almost none in armor, so it stays fragile against any real hitter. Retreat rises to 33 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature nettle acts last against almost anything young. See Stats.
As a perennial herb, nettle is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for x1.5 and is struck for only x0.667 by them; it is weak to Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which hit it for x1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play nettle as a native buffer that chips with poison and heals itself while a stronger ally does the heavy lifting. Its slow turn-1 tempo means it often takes a hit before it acts, so shelter it behind a wall or use it for its bench overshield. It is inedible, so any nutrient banks x1.25 XP rather than coins - grow it for stats. It opens slow and leans on its healing and bulk as it climbs, crossing over around level 11; higher levels always help, so keep leveling 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.