Unlike their evolved forms of Roselia and Roserade, Budew do not spread their venom in battle, so they are often mistaken for harmless. Yet although they are less deadly than most poisonous pokemon, many have learned only after weeks of coughing and sneezing to exercise caution around Budew. Budew venom is not more potent than that of their evolutions, but they are far less able to control it; rather than unleashing it at chosen times or in response to damage, they do so together with their pollen in an invisible cloud of illness.
Budew are usually too weak to use in battle, but there have always been trainers who tried, either from a sick desire to torment crowds at low-level tournaments (which often lack the expensive audience protections of Gyms and League stadiums) and opposing trainers alike, or a determination to win at any cost by using a pokemon which few are prepared to face. They are legal today only if the trainer personally supplies the masks necessary to protect the crowd and opposing trainer alike from Budew venom; as this expense is greater than the prize money for tournaments which a baby pokemon can win, they have all but disappeared from organized battle.
Yet wild Budew are much more common in Sinnoh than their evolutions, so would-be Roserade trainers still search for a way to train their youngest form. They travel the roads by day, distinguished by the mask they wear and the second one they offer to their opponents, yet close contact and constant travel with their Budew means many are sick as often as they are healthy. At times, they have been reviled as disease-bringers, for pollen can escape the battlefield, but today they are viewed primarily as deeply devoted to training their pokemon.