Help, please, with identification of unknown

[mel turner]

In article <monique.1658.0140CC21 at bio.tamu.edu>, monique at bio.tamu.edu 
says...
>
>I've come into possession of some odd fruit pieces(?) from the Dominican 
>Republic.  They are hard, woody, and definitely curved, with some having 
a right-hand twist and some a left-hand. We think they may be halves of a 
legume, possibly Acacia coronaria
>(Dividivi). Alternatively, they might be parts of something that has a 
long, spirally coiled fruit. 
>
>Please look at http://csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/unk.htm  and let me know if you 
>recognize these.

Perhaps they're fragments of the explosively dehiscent woody fruits of the 
tree _Hura crepitans_ [Euphorbiaceae]?  They look about right, if memory 
serves. Compare them with herbarium specimens, if you can...

cheers