Primitive clonogenic progenitor cells in human bone marrow bind to preformed marrow-derived stromal layers in vitro and generate colonies of blast cells. The binding interaction does not require calcium or magnesium ions and occurs equally well in serum-free and serum-supplemented culture medium. It does not appear to involve known cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) for which monoclonal antibodies are available (integrins, N-CAM, LFA-1, and ICAM-1), and we were unable to demonstrate a role for the progenitor cell antigen CD34 in progenitor cell adhesion to cultured stroma. The CAM expressed by the blast colony-forming cells may exist in transmembrane or phosphatidylinositol (PI)-linked forms because it is only partially degraded by exposure to trypsin or to PI-specific phospholipase C. However, binding of these cells to stroma is not prevented in the presence of monoclonal antibodies reacting with known PI-linked structures (Thy-1, CD14, and CD16). It is either masked by neuraminidase-sensitive residues or is no longer expressed as cells mature, respectively, along the granulocytic or erythroid lineages. The properties of the hemopoietic progenitor CAM are discussed with reference to the properties of other CAMs and of hemopoietic progenitor cell markers.