diff --git a/contrib/postgres_fdw/postgres_fdw.c b/contrib/postgres_fdw/postgres_fdw.c
index cfe649a6d8d..46b2021bf64 100644
--- a/contrib/postgres_fdw/postgres_fdw.c
+++ b/contrib/postgres_fdw/postgres_fdw.c
@@ -5867,17 +5867,18 @@ fetch_remote_statistics(Relation relation,
 	}
 
 	/*
-	 * If the remote table is inherited, relpages/reltuples in pg_class for it
-	 * provide stats for the parent table, not for the inheritance set.  We
-	 * could calculate stats for the set by fetching the relation stats for
-	 * child tables as well; but for now, just fallback to sampling.
+	 * For now, if the remote table is (or was once) inherited, fallback to
+	 * sampling.
+	 *
+	 * XXX FIXME: for the case where it's inherited, we could support it by
+	 * fetching and adding the relation stats for child tables as well.
 	 */
 	if ((relkind == RELKIND_RELATION || relkind == RELKIND_FOREIGN_TABLE) &&
 		strcmp(PQgetvalue(relstats, 0, RELSTATS_RELHASSUBCLASS), "t") == 0)
 	{
 		ereport(WARNING,
 				errcode(ERRCODE_FEATURE_NOT_SUPPORTED),
-				errmsg("could not import statistics for foreign table \"%s.%s\" --- remote table \"%s.%s\" is inherited",
+				errmsg("could not import statistics for foreign table \"%s.%s\" --- remote table \"%s.%s\" is (or was once) inherited",
 					   local_schemaname, local_relname,
 					   remote_schemaname, remote_relname));
 		goto fetch_cleanup;
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/postgres-fdw.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/postgres-fdw.sgml
index 79e79aa6ce2..d7d83a7f570 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/postgres-fdw.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/postgres-fdw.sgml
@@ -389,6 +389,12 @@ OPTIONS (ADD password_required 'false');
        table would have attempted to fetch and import the remote statistics
        first if this option was enabled.
       </para>
+
+      <para>
+       Note that this option doesn't currently handle the case where the
+       remote table is (or was once) inherited.  This is an implementition
+       restriction that might be fixed in a future release.
+      </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>