Grapevine life cycle in the wild. A viable grape seed exits the digestive system of a roving avian vector and is deposited in a nutritious plop of, well, bird shit. The resulting seedling finds no direct sun on the forest floor and thus produces no fruit but instead uses its tendrils to begin climbing the nearest tree. Years later, shoots emerge into the sun atop the forest canopy, and light cues stimulate the differentiation of grape clusters. A grape approaching véraison has considerable sugar, but until the seed is viable the vine must use a variety of tricks to repel birds and camouflage
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