Soft chaparral, also known as coastal chaparral, is found in the lower sections of our hills and meadows.  The leaves are small, in most cases, to help conserve water.  One adaptation these plant have is that they can use the fog that comes in from the ocean to get water.

Hard chaparral grows further up in our mountains.  The stems of the hard chaparral plants have a thicker, tougher bark then their soft chaparral relatives.  Since they are high up in elevation the plants can't rely on the fog from the ocean to get water.  Instead their leaves are more needle-like to help conserve water.