SOME COLORADO GRASSES 
* 
AND THEIR CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 
By JAMES CASSIDY, Botanist and Horticulturist. 
AND 
Dr. DAVID O’BRINE, Chemist. 
The grasses are, without doubt, the most important 
order of plants in the vegetable kingdom. A technical 
knowledge of them is, however, difficult of acquirement, 
owing to the complexity of the details of their structure. 
Stockmen in this region invariably confound the rushes 
and sedges with grasses, but no plant can be called a grass 
that is not a member of the order Graminas, no matter 
what its common name may be. 
The sedges resemble, more or less, the grasses, as do 
some members of the rush family ( Juncus ), but it is not 
very difficult to distinguish between them on close 
inspection. 
The more obvious distinctions between grasses and 
and sedges are as follows: 
The stems of grasses and rushes are hollow and com¬ 
monly round, while the sedges have, usually, angled and 
solid stems. The sheaths of grasses are split down the 
entire length, but in sedges the sheaths are united 
