Two cultivars of wheat, Hartog (a spring type) and Rosella (winter) were sown at 2, 5, 8, 10, 15, 20 and 25�C on porous sand medium held at constant soil matric potential. The thermal times required for germination, onset of coleoptile elongation and emergence were similar, 27, 35 and 130�C days respectively, for the two cultivars over the temperature range of 2-25�C. By extrapolation, the base temperature for germination and coleoptile elongation was 1�C and for emergence 0.4�C. The rate of seedling elongation and emergence of both cultivars increased linearly with temperature between 5 and 25�C. Final percentage germination, final coleoptile length and total emergence of both cultivars were independent of temperature between 8 and 25�C but were smaller at 2�C. Differences between the two cultivars were confined to response to low temperature (2OC) during germination and to high temperature (25�C) during coleoptile elongation.