Names: pi mhyn, Wild Grape, Vitis californica

Native American uses: California wild grape is a culturally significant plant with multiple uses for native Tribes in California. It is used for food, cooking, cordage, basketry, and production of structures. The grapes are eaten fresh or dried and leaves were used by the Nisenan to wrap acorn bread before cooking and the vines are still used as lashings for building traditional structures like roundhouses.

Bird Uses: Although the fruits of this species are not often seen in the wild, it’s just because the birds got to them before you did. Birds that love the grapes include bluebirds, mockingbirds, wood ducks, green winged teal, towhees, some flycatchers, quail, vireos, Yellow-breasted Chat, woodpeckers, Western Tanagers, and orioles, to name a few. If you’re a Cedar Waxwing, you know how to stab the fruit with your beak, and then tip your head so that the delicious juice runs into your beak and down the hatch. Loaded withs vitamins and minerals, grapes offer lots of antioxidants to strengthen a bird’s immune system and maintain energy levels.