Weed germination studies often quantify only radicle emergence to indicate germinated seeds. Four categories were used to investigate root and shoot emergence from germinating seeds including: root (seeds with radicles emerged); shoot (seeds with plumules or cotyledons emerged); complete (both roots and plumules emerged); and total (any emergence: roots, shoots, or both). Medusahead and yellow starthistle germination tests illustrated that emergence was equal in the root and total categories. Shoot and complete categories had identical counts, but those counts were often different from the total and root categories. Emergence of medusahead shoots at 8 C was 3 d later than roots, but at 18 C roots and shoots emerged nearly simultaneously. Yellow starthistle roots were not affected by picloram, but emergence of cotyledons (shoot category) was reduced by 80 %. Yellow starthistle seeds stored for 74 and 90 mo produced more radicles than cotyledons after 28 d at 28 C. Medusahead and yellow starthistle root emergence in the laboratory sometimes exceeded seedling emergence from a greenhouse soil mixture. The presence of both roots and shoots (complete category) was the most accurate criterion for documenting yellow starthistle and medusahead seed response to laboratory test conditions.