Possible relationships between the timing of eyespot symptom appearance, the development of Oculimacula yallundae and the responses of infected wheat plants were investigated. By comparing, for 45 days after inoculation (d.a.i.), eyespotand mock-inoculated coleoptiles and leaf sheaths of a wheat line carrying the Pch1 partial resistance gene, this study showed that cell death, used as a criterion for symptom appearance, occurred on the first leaf sheath around 30 d.a.i. These results show that the wheat/ O. yallundae interaction is characterized by two distinct phases: the asymptomatic phase and the symptomatic phase. The possibility that O. yallundae should be considered hemibiotrophic rather than necrotrophic is discussed.