The relative ability of sprouting and nonsprouting chaparral shrubs to recover from fire was studied by examining population of congeneric pairs of species in burned and adjacent unburned areas. The pairs of species selected, with the nonsprouting species named first, were Arctostaphylos glauca - A. glandulosa and Ceanothus greggii - C. leucodermis. Data were also obtained on certain associated species, particularly Adenostoma fasciculatum. The numbers, sizes and condition of the component species at each of the sites were measured. Both sprouting and nonsprouting species showed vigorous recovery from fire. It seemed likely that the burned stands would eventually reach a state of development comparable to that shown in the preburn stand without any significant shifts in composition Mortality of shrubs resulting from the fire was complete for nonsprouters but varied in sprouting species. In some there was essentially no mortality, while in others, especially Adenostoma, it was rather high. Seedling establishment in the shrub species varied markedly and seemed to be correlated with the degree of fire-caused mortality. A profound difference was observed in the life histories of the two nonsprouting shrubs. Whereas Ceanothus greggii produced a very high number of seedlings after fire, Arctostaphylos glauca produced substantially fewer. A comparison of the density-size distribution of live and dead stems indicated that C. greggii suffers high mortality early in succession, but A. glauca loses very few individuals even after 90 years without fire. In light of these results a model is proposed which we believe explains the adaptive significance of the obligate-seeding strategy in the southern California chaparral.