skeleton weed
Lygodesmia juncea
‘milk making’
Drug: breast treatment (and gastrointestinal aid indirectly).
Drug: pediatric aid (indirectly). Hilger reports that an herbal decoction made from this plant was given to women whose children were sick with diarrhea, because this illness was believed to be caused by bad breast milk. “The plant grows a foot or two high, has round leafless stems, and contains an abundance of white, thickish juice.” The decoction was also used to cool sick children. The same plant was used to stimulate milk flow, in a broth or concoction. The plant is described by Hilger herself as having “no leaves or flowers, but only straight stems." The first transcription is copied from Kroeber, the second is Hilger’s own. The identity of this plant has not been verified among the Arapaho. However the Cheyenne used the above species (which they also called ‘breast milk plant’) exactly the same way the Arapaho do. The description given for the Arapaho plant closely resembles Lygodesmia juncea, so the identity seems quite likely.