This mix -- western sword fern, beaked hazelnut in the distance, bays above, and lots of open ground -- was pretty common. Upper section of the Huckleberry Path.

Here the understory mixes coastal wood ferns (foreground at right) and western sword ferns (father back and right). It's an attractive mix. Lower section of the Huckleberry Path.

Sometimes the understory could be rather "busy". This is more filled in and more deciduous. Bracken fern, thimbelberry, beaked hazelnut, and small tree seedlings.

The narrow, vertical form of huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) bushes meant the path could feel tightly closed in a few spots. In the mix are a few brown bracken ferns and some limp sword ferns.

On the path to the Manzanita Barren Overlook (looking back -- the overlook is behind me in this shot). Bracken and Iris in the center ... plus a few sword and wood ferns, some huckleberry at the right, bay trees at left, and probably some hazelnut somewhere in the background.

The trail could pop out of the trees too. Round Top from the Manzanita Barrens Overlook. (I'm going to guess brittle leaf manzanita.)

Polystichum munitum (western sword fern). Big: this may be four feet across.

Polystichum munitum (western sword fern).

Dryopteris arguta (coastal wood fern). Fronds are 12 to 18 inches mostly.

Pteridium aquilinum var. pubescens (western bracken fern). These were mostly browning, but a few fronds still had a little green. Unlike the other ferns, these mostly grow in big stands, not as individuals or in small groups. They have a running root. Frond shape is clear here too: long stalks (stipes), angled first branching, and triple pinnate until up at the tip.

Athyrium filix-femina var. cyclosorum (lady fern). They like wet feet. This clump is growing around a little rivulet. The fronds are big. These are a bit over a three feet. On the largest plant I saw, the biggest frond may have been more in the 4-5 foot range.

Athyrium filix-femina var. cyclosorum (lady fern). This close-up on the back side of the frond show the sori (clusters of spore-producing bodies). The sori display a little bit of the crescent shape Jepson describes, but many just seem round to oblong. Pinnules (lowest level of division of the frond) look right.

Asarum caudatum (wild ginger) at the base of the lady fern.

Pentagramma triangularis ssp. triangularis (goldback fern). The front of the fronds are rather yellowish-greenish too this time of year.

Pentagramma triangularis ssp. triangularis (goldback fern). Fronds are maybe 2-3 inches long and wide (some less).

Corylus cornus californica (California hazelnut or beaked hazelnut), already with buds for next year's flowers. "Felt-like" leaves are a useful identifier. It's deciduous. Depending on the individual plant (and its exposure) the leaves could still be all green, as here, or in the process of yellowing, or mostly down.

Holodiscus discolor (creambush). Leaves are mostly down on this one, leaving only the dried seed clusters hanging to the twigs.

Holodiscus discolor (creambush). Bushes in some shade still had a few leaves ... and lots and lots of those seed pods.

Garrya elliptica (coast silktassle). The little silktassles are already in bud.

Dirca occidentalis (western leatherwood). Just one low, thin shrub here at the Huckleberry trail marker. I hope there are more tucked in the woods. CNPS 1B.2: rare, threatened, or endangered in CA and elsewhere (moderately threatened). Native to just the East Bay Hills, Peninsula, and Marin.

Alnus rhombifolia (white alder) maybe??

Arctostaphylos crustacea (brittle leaf manzanita) on the upper section of the Huckleberry Path was beginning to put out buds.

Arctostaphylos pallida (pallid manzanita). CNPS 1B.1: rare, threatened, or endangered in CA and elsewhere (seriously threatened). It now grows in the wilds only here in Huckleberry Reg. Preserve and at one other site in the East Bay hills.

Ribes sanguineum var. glutinosum (flowering currant). I think. The leave shape and veining look right, as does the branching. Still, I need to come back in a few months to see the flowers and new leaves. I went out of my way to find one of these since they are on the "garden possibilities" list.