Beach walk puzzle

I found this on the beach the other day. It's 35 mm long and obviously plant material. I'd not seen anything like it before. After much Googling, R and I have decided it's the dried flower of an Orange Mangrove, Bruguiera gymnorhiza. 

Our common local mangrove is the Grey Mangrove. The Orange also grows in the area - from just south of us to as far north as Darwin, thousands of km away.

This webpage has lots of info, including pictures of the red-coloured flower, which looks just like the blip.