(thing) by e2reneta Tue Dec 05 2000 at 19:46:36
  • Often planted for riparian restoration.
  • Fruit is enjoyed by coyote, opossum, western spotted skunk, striped skunk, wood duck, band-tailed pigeon, California quail, and mountain bluebird, while black-tailed deer browse on the leaves and young stems.
  • California wild grape was used to save the European wine industry between 1870 and 1900 when most Vitis vinifera were killed by leaf- and root-attacking grape phylloxera aphids (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae). Since then, nearly all commercial wine grapes grown anywhere in the world have been grafted onto rootstocks of resistant California wild grape cultivars.
  • Trees such as valley oak and Fremont cottonwood often die after California wild grape climbs into their canopies.
  • Host of the western grapeleaf skeletonizer (a moth, Harrisina brillians, who could easily lend its name to a professional wrestler) which can decimate commercial vineyards.
Source: USDA Forest Service
I like it!