Height-growth analysis was used to examine forest structure and compare Pterocarya rhoifolia and Fraxinus spaethiana growth characteristics within and between each species in two P. rhoifolia-dominant and two F. spaethiana established contemporaneously in the sere, species vertical stratification 25 years after stand initiation was such that P. rhoifolia dominated the overstory but F. spaethiana the understory, including that P. rhoifolia grew about 4 times more rapidly. Similarly, F. spaethiana dominated the overstory but not the understory, in a stand where it established mainly by itself, 25 years after initiation. However, comparing the two different stands, P. rhoifolia overstory heights were about two times greater than F. spaethiana. This suggests that in a disturbance regime, forest regeneration is affected by height-growth patterns such that P. rhoifolia's ability to achieverapid height growth allows it to dominate where lights growth allows it to dominate where light resources are continuously abundant.