The stand structure of a sweet chestnut coppice Castanea sativa Mill. and of a beech coppice Fagus sylvatica L. in south-east England is described. Litter fall measurements were made at two-week intervals during the autumn of 1968 and during the whole of 1969. Similar weights of leaves fell in both sites during the autumn of both years. The two sites showed the strong seasonality of leaf fall characteristic of temperate deciduous woodlands: in 1969, 88 to 90 per cent of the total leaf litter fall occurred between the middle of September and late November. The mean annual litter fall for the two sites in 1969 was 425.1 g/m2, composed of 358.2 g/m2 (84 per cent) of leaves, 42.6 g/m2 (10 per cent) of fruit, flowers and detritus, and 24.3 g/m2 (6 per cent) of twigs. Some reasons for the underestimate of woody litter in this study are discussed.