The compressive behavior of the bovine distal femoral growth plate was studied in vitro. Strain-rate controlled, compression stress-relaxation experiments were performed on cylindrical bone-growth plate-bone specimens from the interior and periphery of the growth plate. The questions addressed in this study were (a) Can the nonlinear biphasic theory, one with strain-dependent permeability, be used to represent the compressive stress-relaxation behavior of bovine growth plate? (b) How do different assumptions concerning the permeabilities of the chondro-osseous interfaces influence the inferred material properties of the growth plate? and (c) Are there any differences in these properties between the periphery and the interior of the growth plate? Intrinsic biphasic material properties--aggregate modulus (HA), Poisson's ratio (v), and nonlinear strain-dependent permeability coefficients (ko and M)--were calculated from the compression stress-relaxation data with use of a finite element model and a least squares curve-fitting procedure. To verify this constitutive model for the growth plate, an independent set of finite element analyses was performed with use of the determined intrinsic biphasic properties, and comparisons were made between these finite element predictions and two additional sets of experimental data subsequently obtained for the same specimens with use of two slower rates of compression. Excellent agreement was achieved between these finite element predictions and the latter two sets of data. The aggregate modulus was found to be insensitive to the permeability of the chondro-osseous interface. The permeability coefficients were very sensitive to, and the Poisson's ratio was only slightly sensitive to the interface permeability condition. Therefore, the periphery of the growth plate is more compliant and permeable than the interior.