Vitaceae is significant above all for grapes -- Vitis vinifera, and by extension, wine. It is great example of a massive global industry based mainly on one species of plant -- a species with as many as 10,000 varieties! Grapes are the number one crop in California, and California is one of the world's five Mediterranean climates -- along with Australia, South America, South Africa, and of course the Mediterranean -- where viticulture thrives.
Vitis vinifera is native to Europe, however there are some 60 species of wild grape that grow throughout the world. Vitis is one of approximately fifteen genera in the Vitaceae family, most of them vines. Perhaps the second most famous member of this family is Virginia creeper -- Parthenocissus quinquefolia. Although native, this vine can spread to the point of being destructive to other plants; on the other hand it is sometimes deliberately grown like ivy to cover walls. I am familiar with the sight of it taking over my parents' garden and have memories of pulling it out of the ground, off of trees, and out of shrubs that its fast growing tendrils would latch onto.
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