GOVIND RAO, PERKINS a fructosan-accumulating species (Smith and Grotelueschen, 1966), was used to evaluate this method for characterizing and quantitizing carbohydrate fractions in forage plants. Data indicated that roots of this species have a relatively high free fructose content. The increasing fructose/glucose (Cf/ Cg) ratio corresponding with decreasing ethanol extractions beginning with the 92.5 % hydrolyzed extraction indicated the presence of fructosans of varying chain lengths and the greatest quantity of fructose was extracted with 60% ethanol. These data corroborate the findings of Smith and Grotelueschen (1966). Fructosans in grasses are reported to be similar to the inulin type found in Compositae, but are thought to occur in chain lengths shorter than 35 fructofuranose residues linked 2:6 and terminated by a sucrose residue (Bacon, 1960; Edleman, 1960). In this experiment, fructose/glucose ratios increased with decreasing ethanol concentration indicating the presence of fructosans with average chain lengths of 1.05 (sucrose) at 92.5% ethanol extraction to 20.6 (inulin) at 0% ethanol extraction, in tall fescue roots.Colorimetric determination of fructose in the presence of glucose can be used advantageously for differentiating these two sugars in plant extracts where they are present in greatest quantities. This method, in combination with the ethanol dilution extractions and acid hydrolyses, allows for routine quantitative description of carbohydrates in plant material, with the exception of starch. Because of the simplicity of this method, it can be used for routine determination of sugar components in forage samples, in particular the fructosan accumulating species. LITERATURE CITED