The leaf N and P stoichiometry of 24 individuals of 13 plant taxa in five various successional stages of the evergreen broad-leaved forest in Tiantong National Forest Park, Zhejiang Province was studied. The results showed that (1) leaf N, P and N∶P mass ratio exhibited large variations, ranging from 6.49 to 14.69 mg g^-1 for N, from 0.66 to 1.13 mg g^-1 for P, and from 7.45 to 16.38 for N∶P ratio. The arithmetic means for all species were 9.43 for leaf N and 0.86 mg g^-1 for leaf P, and 11.17 for N∶P, respectively; (2) Leaf N content and N∶P ratio in earlier successional stages were higher than those in later successional stages, the temporal change in leaf N corresponded well with that of leaf N∶P ratio, and the change in leaf N∶P ratio could be explained in terms of the characteristics of the communities in different successional stages; (3) Leaf N∶P stoichiometry can be used as an ecological indicator for nutrient limitation both at the plant individual and community levels. The N∶P ratio in new leaves was lower than that in mature leaves for most plant species, indicative of N-limitation but not P-limitation. New leaves more frequently suffered from N-limitation than mature leaves, and thus were subject to leaf hypogenesis in the shortage of N nutrient supply.