In this paper, both transient and steady state heat transfer in graphite are investigated with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The simulation results demonstrate that elastic anisotropy controls heat transfer in the transient state, which makes the outermost isothermal surface of temperature distribution similar to the phonon group velocity surface that has a shape of very flat ellipse in layered materials. In steady state, with the help of phonons engaging in sufficient scattering, the basal plane phonon modes determine the thermal conductivity along all directions except those very close to the cross plane. Our simulation results confirm that the classical theoretical model can accurately predict the thermal conductivity along arbitrary directions in layered materials. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.