Seedy American rustic in a ragged cape (8)
I believe the answer is:
chickpea
'seedy american' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how one could define the other.
'rustic in a ragged cape' is the wordplay.
'rustic' becomes 'hick' (hick is a kind of rustic).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'a ragged' indicates an anagram.
'cape' is an anagram of 'cpea'.
'hick' going within 'cpea' is 'CHICKPEA'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for chickpea that I've seen before include "hippy diet" , "Bushy leguminous plant" , "A pulse, garbanzo" , "Commonly eaten pulse" , "Mediterranean legume" .)