May. Fruits appear from late May through July. The fruits are small, dry, and one-seeded. Its stems are flat and the leaves are greatly reduced. Thc spikelet is comprised of several rows of overlapping scales, with the lowest ones being thick, purple and leathery. Its fruits are ribbed.
All rushes are extremely difficult to identify.
Identifying this species can only be accomplished by careful examination of mature spikelets and fruit with a dissecting scope. Recent decline of Wolf's spike-rush in other states is attributed to loss of native grasslands and wetlands to agricultural and urban expansion. Notify a natural resources. There are about a dozen spike-rushes native or introduced in the Great Plains. Minnesota's Endangered Flora and Fauna , edited by Barbara Coffin and Lee Pfanmmuller, 1988.