Hypocotyls from Antirrhinum majus L. were excised at 2 weeks of age from seedlings grown under a 16-hour photoperiod or continuous darkness. Explants were cultured on modified Murashige-Skoog (MS) medium containing 0, 0.44, 2.22, 4.44, 8.88, or 44.4 μm BA to investigate adventitious shoot formation. Excised hypocotyls from eight commercial cultivars, three inbred lines, and an F1 hybrid between two of the inbreds were cultured on MS medium containing 2.22 μm BA to assess genotypic effects on adventitious shoot formation. The influence of seedling age was assessed by excising hypocotyls from seedlings at 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, 26, or 30 days. Optimal conditions for adventitious shoot formation on excised hypocotyls included: seedling growth in a lighted environment, use of hypocotyls from 10-day-old seedlings, and culture on medium containing 2.22 μm BA for 3 weeks. Under these conditions, up to a 5-fold improvement in number of shoots per hypocotyl over previous studies was achieved. Adventitious shoot formation was genotype-dependent and appeared to be a dominant trait. Chemical name used: N6-benzyladenine (BA).