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Seed germination behaviour of the chenopod Agriophyllum squarrosum in the moving dunes of the Tenggeli Desert was studied. The response of seed germination with time, expressed as the proportion of seed germinated per day, presented a unimodal continuous process. Seeds began to germinate in less than 3 h and the germination rate peak was reached 7 days after watering. All seeds eventually germinated. Seeds were collected in 1993 and 1994, so the maternal plants had different growing periods, with different plant sizes and germination times. Germination in sand was tested in the second year and showed that there is no innate dormancy of A. squarrosum during the growing season. The mechanism for long-term survival of A. squarrosum in temperate sand dunes is discussed. (C) 1998 Academic Press.