We investigated plant cell division by testing for the presence and involvement in progress through the division cycle of the protein p34cdc2, a key participant in division control in other eukaryotes. A protein of the same m(r) 34,000 has structural similarity indicated by its reaction with three sorts of antibody raised against (1) cell division-specific regions within a 16-amino acid internal sequence that is perfectly conserved in p34cdc2 from all known sources, (2) the carboxy-terminal 127 amino acids of human p34cdc2 linked to beta-galactosidase, and (3) whole p34cdc2 of fission yeast. Participation of p34 in the division cycle of the green plant Chlamydomonas is indicated by phosphorylation of the protein only in proliferating cells. There is a consistent fivefold increase relative to other proteins when cells become committed to division and a maximum of phosphorylation at the time of nuclear division under conditions that alter by twofold the time of these events. A p34 protein is detectable in oats and Arabidopsis and in remote taxa, including red and brown algae. We conclude that the plant kingdom shares a division control involving p34cdc2 that was probably established in the common ancestral eukaryote prior to divergence of any of the major eukaryote taxa.