Process
The first step in our quest is to understand what, exactly, makes a plant a grass, a rush, or a sedge. Let's start gathering information at a site containing links to a great deal of information on the subject.
Wildlife Gardeners has a resource page we'll use to begin. Notice a sentence at the top of the page: it should help you with a very basic way to begin telling grasses, rushes and sedges from one another. Be sure to use this sentence in the first paragraph of your paper on identification.
Next, we'll go to two web sites that look at the grasses, rushes and sedges from two very different places. The first is the site of the Offwell Woodland & Wildlife Trust in England. It has some information on telling grasses from other plants, and a great deal of information on identifying specific species of grass. Be sure to look at the page on grass structure, and then the page on tips for identification. In your paper, you should include information about what the structure of grass is, and how differences in the structure of plants can be used for identification.
The next site is based at Palm Beach Community College and concentrates on grasses, rushes and sedges found in two counties in south Florida. Be sure to find the links to the section on grass, and the section on sedges and rushes. Read them and answer this question in your paper: How many species of grasses, rushes and sedges are there in the world? Think about the answer, and then write about how you think this affects the amount of material you see on each type of plant.
Next, we'll work on the paper on the uses of the plants and how they've had an impact on humans and civilization. Now that you've seen some web sites on grasses, sedges and rushes, it's time for you to do some of your own research. You can begin by looking at the information availabile on Wikipedia. Read the Wikipedia page on papyrus to get an idea of the kind of information availabile (and an idea for your paper)! Now think about the sort of plants that might be grasses, rushes or sedges. You might begin with things like rice, wheat, corn and bamboo, but see how many interesting examples you can find.
When you've written both papers, you've completed your assignment and you should have a much better understanding of the plants under your feet!