Technical Abstract: Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars with long coleoptiles can be sown deeply for better seedling establishment in drought environments. A population of 139 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) from a cross between a long-coleoptile Chinese landrace, Wangshuibai, and short coleoptile U.S. wheat cultivar, Wheaton, were characterized for coleoptile length and plant height. Heritabilities for coleoptile length were high (h2> 0.82). Interval mapping identified six significant quantitative trait loci (QTL) on 1B, 3D, 4D, 5AS, and 5B for coleoptile length; four of them on 3D, 4D and 5AS showed pleiotropic effects on plant height. One major QTL for long coleoptile was mapped on the locus Rht-D1 (Rht2) for reduced height (Rht) on chromosome 4DS and explained up to 65% of phenotypic variation for coleoptile length. Another major QTL was located on 4DL and explained up to 33% of phenotypic variation for coleoptile length. Standard height allele Rht-Dla from Wangshuibai appeared to have an epistatic effect on the 4DL QTL for long coleoptile. Other QTL showed only minor effects. Although Rht-Dla explained a major portion of genetic variation for long coleoptile in Wangshuibai, a combination of Rht-D1a in Wangshuibai with gibberellic acid (GA)-sensitive Rht genes for reduced wheat height from other sources should be able to select long coleoptile semidwarf cultivars in wheat breeding programs for which long coleoptile is a breeding objective.