This native annual is widespread in warm and mid-temperate regions of central and eastern North America. It was widely used for its edible seed during the Woodland era (Ford 1985). It may have been cultivated, but there is no clear evidence of selection. The earliest modern record from Ky. may have been a coll. by R. Peter from Blue Lick [perhaps in ROBE], dated June 1835 (at KY before the fire; Anderson 1924).