Do unupgraded fertilized Gnaw plants have any increased stats?

There are upgrades in Awesomenauts which make fertilized Gnaw plants do more damage / have more attack speed etc.

When Gnaw spits on one of his plants, this plant gets another texture, hinting that it has other stats than just the regular unfertilized plants - even if I haven't bought any of the plant upgrades. There is no indication that these plants have improved stats though, neither in the ingame help nor on the Wiki.

Do fertilized (i.e. spit on) Gnaw plants have any bonuses, even if I haven't bought any upgrades for them? If not, is there any reason to fertilize plants (apart from the hitpoints regeneration)?