Do you have a pic of the plant you collected the root from? The reason I say that is cos it sort of looks like a Kumara, a dahlia tuber.... as well as a Yacon root.
Is it a seed pod from a plant? Sorry - it's hard to tell from the photo alone. As mischief says a photo of the actual plant would help. If it is a pod can you open it and see what the seed are like? And welcome from another SEQer….
Here is an image of the pod opened, Grasshopper I looked up West Indian Locust the inside of the pod does not look simular but the outside does. I dont have an image of the tree one of my friends found the pod I will try to get an image of the tree in the next few days. View attachment 2535
Toxis sawdust Hi Guys, looks to me like the seed pod from a Moreton Bay Chestnut or Black Bean tree Castanospermum australe. A sub tropical rainforest plant which grows commonly along creeks in South east Queensland. Seeds are poisonous to eat and were eaten by indigenous Aussies only after a stringent soaking and leaching plus heat treatment process taking over a week. The seed in the pods are toxic to livestock too, ruminants get stoned and crook and after a few seasons get hooked and generally kick the bucket. My kids used to use them as deadly ammo in their tennis ball cannons. The wood is very dark brown in the heart and very, very dense, used in Australia for wooden knife handles as is hard and weathers well. The pods are great for kids to play in creeks with as they float really well. The dry sawdust is really highly irritant very bad for you and you must wear a good dust mask as your nose will bleed and other deleterious effects on general health. Cheers, Steve.
Thank you so much for that wealth of information ! I will let my friend know what it is and tell him not to eat the seed lol. I am reasonably new to QLD but I must say I love how lush it is here compared to SA.