Could it be millet...? Is there one seed her stalk, or many? Any leaves? What does the inside of the big seed look like?

Velvet ~:>

On re-reading, it sounds like it could be something in the onion family.

Any smell to the plant?

Velvet ~:>

found it, i think it's a ground cherry. looks to be the closest thing i can find. thanks Velvet.

How about Japanese Lanterns? They have a paper type "flower" that is shaped like a lamp light on the streetlight. Seeds are inside. Folks collect the flowers on stems for dried flowers, arrangements in the fall.

Until this year, I had only seen the beige Lanterns, but this year I saw garden Lanterns, which are red. These were a wider, more rounded form of Lantern, in a planted garden. Pretty, but I understand Japanese Lanterns are very prolific, spread easily and hard to get out. I don't plant them, but have found them in uncut meadow fields with other weedy growth.

http://cgi.ebay.com/5-chinese-lantern-PLANTS-japanese-lanterns-LIVE-crafts_W0QQitemZ320310266422QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item320310266422&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Ebay has a photo of the lantern part at the bottom of this item number, in a red color.

Sure sounds like the ground cherry which we call a chinese lantern. It is a member of the tomato family and carries some toxic chemicals. In low quantities, it wouldn't hurt your livestock, but if you fed a steady diet of it, you could have problems.

Here it grows on the ditchbanks and is more an interesting curiousity. Doesn't seem to do well on ground that is tilled or where it gets cut off. If it gets thick on the ditch banks, a little 2,4-D will help control it, and Roundup will take it out.