Abstract: It was suggested that litchi fruit growth could be reasonably divided into two stages(Stage I andStage II)，and stageⅡ could be further subdivided into two substages(Stage II a and Stage II b)．Stage I，which constitutes about two thirds of the whole fruit growth cycle(0-53 DAA)，was the phase mainly characterized by the growth of pericarp and seedcoat，during which the influx of solutes was slower than the influx of water into the seed，and it Was almost the same case for the pericarp．Stage II a was the phase mainly characterized by the growth of embryo(53—67 DAA)and the influx of solutes Was faster than water influx into the fruit during this stage．Stage II a was not distinct in fruit with aborted seed．Stage II b(67—88 DAA)was the phase characterized by rapid aril growth and maturation，when the infl ux of solutes Was slower than water infl ux into the aril and the ma turation progressed rapidly．Clustering analysis results of changes in fruit dry mass confi rmed that this revised
division of two developmental stages Was in accordance with the ma thema tical pattern and wi th the notion of“Ballskin versus bladder efect”proposed by Huang and Xu(1983)．

Key words: Litchi(Litchi chinensis Sonn.), Fruit, Developmental stage, Cumulative growth rate, Contributive rate, Clustering analysis