Abstract: The stands of 17-year-old Manglietia yuyuanensis Law. mixed with Chinese fir were researched by analysing the relationship between crown characteristics and growth of M. yuyuanensis Law. The results showed that the stemwood growth index(VI) was positively related to the total leaf area(TLA), surface area of crown(TCA) and crown shape ratio (CSR), but negatively related to the leaf area index(LAI) and crown layer density(CLD). The path analysis showed that TCA had the biggest direct effect(Pyxi=1. 201 3)on the stemwood growth. In the five main growth parameters of crown layer, based on the importance of relationships with stemwood growth, the order of them was TCA, LAI, TLA, CSR and CLD. The effects of spatial configuration of crown and stemwood growth were analysed. It showed that in the vertical distribution of crown foliage, the down and middle layer was decisive to the stemwood growth, the role of upper layers was secondary. In the horizontal distribution, inner and outer parts had the great contribution to the growth, but the middle parts had less. The study of reasonable crown structure of M. yuyuanensis could be used to. direct the big timber cultivation of M. yuyuanensis.