Vitis californica

California wild grape

Family: Vitaceae · Type: shrub · Native

California wild grape is a native shrub found in northwestern California, the high Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada Foothills, Great Valley, central western California, and southern eastern Sierra Nevada in streamsides, springs, and canyons at elevations below 1,250 meters. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces flowers that develop into spheric, purple, glaucous fruits over 8 millimeters wide. Growing with tomentose stems that become less hairy with age and nodal partitions 3 to 4 millimeters thick, it forms spreading or climbing growth. Its leaves are heart-shaped to kidney-shaped with shallow lobes, crenate to slightly serrate edges, and a somewhat woolly texture. The fruits are distinctive, with a skin that separates from the pulp and containing 3 to 4 round seeds.

Habitat: Streamsides, springs, canyons

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: < 1250 m

Bioregions: NW, CaRF, SNF, GV, CW, SNE

California counties: Los Angeles, Kern, Butte, Lake, Mariposa, Humboldt, El Dorado, Calaveras, Plumas, Madera, Tuolumne, Sonoma, Napa, Tulare, Shasta, Fresno, Placer, Santa Barbara, Trinity, Orange, San Joaquin, Siskiyou, Mendocino, Contra Costa, Alameda, Sutter, Glenn, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Santa Cruz, Nevada, Amador, Del Norte, Inyo, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, Solano, Tehama, Yolo, Colusa, Yuba, Ventura, Sierra, Marin, Monterey, Stanislaus, San Diego, Merced

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.