While studies on temperate species indicate positive correlations between growth and elevated temperature, some observations referring tropical species suggest the opposite, as tropical species operates with more thermally stable climates. In this study, we subjected co-occurring Schima superba Gardn. et Champ., and Ormosia pinnata (Lour.) Merr saplings to infrared heaters in open-top chambers tracking natural temperature variability and measured their growth and physiological responses during a hot summer. Our key findings are (i) Short term warming induced a slight reduction in growth (height and basal stem diameter) of S. superba and O. pinnata saplings, but significantly increased their specific leaf area. (ii) During the warmest period, warming posed a negative and species-specific effect on photosynthetic functioning of these two species, in a manner that stomatal conductance of S. superba, but not of O. pinnata, significantly decreased under warming. The negative impacts of warming on photosynthetic biochemistry were stronger for S. superba compared to O. pinnata. (iii) Warming caused significant reductions in leaf total non-structural carbohydrate concentrations of both species. Species-specific effects of warming were found for leaf carbon (C), nitrogen (N) concentrations and C:N ratios, whereas leaf phosphorus (P) concentrations and N:P ratios were not affected. Higher leaf C concentrations as well as C:N ratios were only detected in legume O. pinnata under warming conditions. Our results demonstrated that climate warming is expected to have adverse and species-specific effects on S. superba and O. pinnata during summer in subtropical China.