Medicine:

"The roots of horse-nettle possess chemicals that seem to have both antiseptic properties and the ability to draw fluid from tissue. The Zunis must have discovered this long ago, for they once used the roots on snakebites and for toothaches.

Rio Grande Pueblo Indians have drunk a brew of plant parts for stomach sickness and nursing mothers to sustain milk flow. At Isleta the berries, boiled into a syrup, were thought to have a laxative effect. The men of Cochiti are said to have dried the berries and used the powder as a kind of snuff, like tobacco. (Dunmire and Tierney 208-9)

Other Uses:

"The berries contain as substance that can curdle milk, and this quality has seen wide spread application in the making of goat and other types of cheese at various pueblos."(Dunmire and Tierney 209)