Non-dendritic needle-like pattern formation caused by solid particle induced-growth was observed for naphthalene crystals grown from the melt and n-paraffin crystals from solutions. The occurrence of foreign bodies on growing surfaces of crystals will serve as precursors for heterogeneous 2D nucleation by forming the "2D nucleation barrier well", so that it will promote the rapid growth at relatively low supercoolings in the contact regions. Foreign particles have no effect on crystal growth at high supersaturations, due to the limitation of transport. The effect of foreign particles can be described quantitatively by a so-called step-particle correlation parameter f. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.