[Taxacom] Need help identifying plant material

[Monique Reed]

Apologies for cross-posting.

I've been asked to help identify some plant material used to stuff a mid-19th century settee belonging to the estate of Jared Reese Cook of Hard Times Plantation near Vicksburg.  The museum staff is researching how best to restore and interpret the piece and would like to determine if it was made in New York and shipped south or was made in the South (most likely in New Orleans). There is a good amount of "marsh grass" added as filler to the horse hair stuffing of the seat.

I've examined samples, and most of it is vaguely grass-like, though bits seem to hint at Ruppia or Zannichellia.  Much is decomposing into component fibers.  Image at http://www.bio.tamu.edu/courses/biol328/grass-under-horsehair.jpg  What looks like Tillandsia in the photo,  isn't.  At least, there wasn't any recognizable Tillandsia in the physical sample I received.

There is one object that might be more informative.  It looks familiar, but we can't place it.  Image  at http://www.bio.tamu.edu/courses/biol328/plant-part.jpg
It's about 2cm long and rather hard/woody.  Looks to have an interior hollow, like a peach pit.  Surface has blunt points all over; pointed end has larger points and the blunt end has a small tuft of woolly hair.

I can e-mail images that will open to higher resolution, if anyone wants a closer look.

Thanks,
Monique Reed
Biology Department
TAMU 3258
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-3258