1) Resprout from belowground organs like a root crown (where the root meets the stem) or a rhizome (an underground, horizontal stem). Not all plants can do this. They have to have buds below ground that can start growing to produce a new stem, and they have to have sufficient storage reserves (starch) below ground to provide energy to produce the new stems and to keep the root alive while the stem is growing.

2) Have a life cycle that typically involves dying down to the ground each year and producing a new shoot from belowground roots, bulbs, corms, etc. These types of plants are typically dormant during late summer, when most fires occur anyway, with only the belowground parts alive. These belowground parts are protected from heat by the insulating properties of dry soil.

3) For a tree: have thick, insulating bark that protects the vascular cambium (the cell layer right under the bark that produces new xylem and phloem). If the tree is tall enough that its crown (the live branches and leaves) does not burn up in the fire, protecting the cambium will insure that the tree can continue to produce new xylem, to get water to the leaves, and new phloem, to get sugars to the roots, after the fire.

4) Have an annual life cycle. Again, these plants are often dead by the time most fires occur in southern California, and seeds in the soil germinate, as usual, with the next rains.

5) Have seeds that are stimulated to germinate by either heat or chemicals in smoke. This causes seeds to germinate in the 1-2 years after a fire, when competition from other plants is low and conditions are good for seedling survival. Species that have seeds with these types of germination requirements often build up soil seed banks over years, producing seeds every year that do not germinate, but are added to the soil seed bank (a collection of dormant seeds in the soil). After a fire, fire-stimulated germination will deplete the soil seed bank (because the seeds germinated), and germination after subsequent fires will depend on whether the species has managed to replenish the soil seed bank since the last fire.

6) Have cones that open to release seeds after fire. Conifers (pines and relatives) that do this typically hold cones on their branches for years. Seeds are released when fires come through. Not all conifers do this.