Texture evolution inα-Zr due to uniaxial deformation at 923 to 1123 K was investigated in crystal-bar Zr and Zr-2.5Nb. The temperature range selected corresponds to the two-phase (α +β) field in the Zr-2.5Nb alloy. It was found that uniaxial compression causes a progressive rotation of the (0002) plane normals away from the compression direction and away from the compression plane. In the crystal-bar Zr, the compression texture consists of a [0001] fiber tilted 30 deg from the compression axis. By contrast, in Zr-2.5Nb, a [0001] fiber with an angular spread of 30 deg is obtained. The effect of theβ phase present in Zr-2.5Nb at the temperatures investigated was evaluated by testing a Zr-20Nb alloy in compression. The β-phase texture consisted of a weak 〈111〉-〈00l〉 double fiber. Comparison of this texture and the textures observed in Zr-2.5Nb indicates that theβ →α transformation takes place by the growth of pre-existing a grains and not according to the Burgers mechanism. This transformation has, therefore, no direct effect on the α-phase texture after cooling to room temperature from the (α +β) field. Uniaxial elongation by swaging of Zr-2.5Nb produces a dual $$\left\langle {10\bar 10} \right\rangle - \left[ {0001} \right]$$ fiber. Similar results are obtained in hot extruded rods. Modeling of the development of textures in the α phase was performed using linear programming and employing relaxed constraint (RC) models (“curling” for tension and ”pancake” for compression) implemented for hexagonal close-packed (hcp) grains. It is assumed that prismatic, basal, and 〈c +a〉 pyramidal slip were the active deformation modes at high temperatures. It is shown that these models reduce the activity of the pyramidal slip systems to realistic values, in contrast to the full constraint (FC) approach, where most of the deformation is accommodated by 〈c +a〉 slip. Microstructural evidence is presented regarding the occurrence of ”curling” during uniaxial elongation.