TR Cavallaro
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trcava.bsky.social
TR Cavallaro
@trcava.bsky.social
1.6K followers 1K following 280 posts
Fungi 🍄 | Plants 🌵 | Epigenetics 🧬 | Eco-Evo-Devo 🌀 | PhD Student, Stanford 🌲(he/him/il) #FirstGen #QueerinSTEM 🏳️‍🌈

🌎 Science is for everyone.
🍄‍🟫 Views are my own.
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trcava.bsky.social
🕺🕺🕺
A screenshot showing the number of days since I quit using nicotine gum. It has been 6 days!
November 15, 2025 at 7:03 PM
trcava.bsky.social
Sneaky Laccaria mushrooms — a story told in alt text 🍄‍🟫💜
A photo of my feet and the ground beneath them (plus a little coyote bush). I pause to scan my surroundings, and something in the leaf litter catches my eye… but what was it? A photo of my feet and the ground beneath them. I pause to scan my surroundings, and something in the leaf litter catches my eye… but what was it? I bend down to get a closer look at the busy scene. The busy scene is overwhelming… what did I see? Maybe it was my imagination… The leaf litter scene is overwhelming… so many shapes, textures, colors… what did I see? Maybe it was my imagination… I squat down further… wait—what’s that little purple bulls-eye!?? I pluck the little purple bulls-eye from the forest floor, revealing soft pink-purple gills and a long fibrous stem—a Laccaria mushroom! Success!
November 15, 2025 at 5:36 PM
trcava.bsky.social
PSA: NRT (nicotine gum, patch, lozenges, etc) is less harmful than smoking or vaping, but it is NOT harmless.

If you (like me) find yourself unable to stop, and you are experiencing new or worsening mental or physical health problems, it might just be the NRT!

www.askapatient.com/mobile/viewr...
A screenshot from the days since app showing how many hours I have gone with using nicotine gum (56 hours and counting).
November 11, 2025 at 6:42 PM
trcava.bsky.social
Mush love, many fungi 🍄‍🟫
Amanita pantherinoides The very colorful (and toxic) Rhubroboletus eastwoodiae, “California Satan’s bolete” Left to right: two small Laccaria mushrooms, three Boletus edulis (king boletes) I am not sure what these mushrooms are… do you? Pseudobaeospora? Murasmius? Collybiopsis?
November 3, 2025 at 2:41 AM
trcava.bsky.social
A sampling of this week’s fungal finds 🍄‍🟫
The peculiar toothed fruiting-body of Auriscalpium vulgare emerging from a Pseudotsuga menziesii cone. This seemingly quaint yellow mushroom is the fruiting body of the infamous, invasive, and oh-so-deadly, Amanita phalloides — aka the “death cap”. Fomitopsis cajanderi, the rosy conk, emerging from a mossy tree trunk. The fruiting body of a shelf fungus (Phaeolus species) can be seen here among fallen branches and leaf litter.
October 19, 2025 at 12:04 AM
trcava.bsky.social
And of course, I saw some fungi! 🍄‍🟫
These are fruiting bodies of Turbinellus floccocus that I found beneath a fir tree. Ye olde puffball, Lycoperdon Wolf lichen (Letharia vulpina) growing on Sierra Juniper
October 13, 2025 at 1:49 AM
trcava.bsky.social
This never gets old 🌲 🏔️
A picture of me holding a massive sugarpine cone while I admire an even more massive tree trunk. A picture of me holding a sugarpine cone. A nature scene in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Peaking through the trees, we see a large tree leaning over the river below.
October 12, 2025 at 11:58 PM
trcava.bsky.social
I made a flyer! Know anyone in CA, OR, WA, or BC who might be interested in collecting mushrooms for research purposes? #mycology #citizenscience

Please share widely! 🧪 🍄‍🟫 🌲

A PDF version can be found here: drive.proton.me/urls/W1MM4FG...
A help-wanted poster seeking volunteer mushroom collectors in California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. The poster provided some background info about the research project and study system and how folks can contribute if they are interested. REQUEST | Calling all mycophiles, naturalists, and citizen scientists in CA, OR, WA, and BC! Going for a hike in the woods or a walk in your neighborhood park? • Please keep your eyes peeled for the purple mushrooms of L.a-o! • Collect the mushrooms* if you are able to access them safely. • If you can, please take a photo of the mushrooms and the tree(s) you find them under. *If you find a mushroom that is clearly rotten or moldy, please don't collect it. "I collected some purple mushrooms. What should I do now?" 1. Please keep the mushroom fresh: • Store in paper, not plastic. • Keep cool/ refrigerate, but do not freeze. • Store mushrooms away from light. 2. Email me to arrange pick-up, delivery, or shipment* of your sample. * will cover packing and shipping expenses! "What's in it for those who contribute to this work?" • You will receive acknowledgement in presentations and publications stemming from this research. • You will receive copies of journal publications from this research (data available upon request). • You are invited to attend presentations of this research and to visit the lab at Stanford University. Page 2 of the help-wanted poster includes reference photos of the study organism and a map of where this species has been observed. All images and the map are sourced from iNaturalist.
October 5, 2025 at 10:35 PM
trcava.bsky.social
🍄‍🟫 🌼 🍄
A mushroom (Xerocomellus sp.) with a brown cap, yellow to red stipe. A spider hanging out on some pacific aster (Symphyotrichum chilense). Just on the other side of some poison oak… a massive and oak bracket (Pseudoinonotus dryadeus) on coast live oak.
October 5, 2025 at 6:15 AM
trcava.bsky.social
@swordfernstudios.bsky.social they’re here!! Looking forward to decorating my workspace with these 🍄 😍
Woodland mushroom art prints from Sword Fern Studios
October 2, 2025 at 10:56 PM
trcava.bsky.social
If it were a snake…

www.dictionary.com/browse/fascism
A screenshot of the dictionary.con page for the word fascism (noun). 1 (sometimes initial capital letter), a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism. 2 (sometimes initial capital letter), the philosophy, principles, or methods of fascism. 3 (initial capital letter), a political movement that employs the principles and methods of fascism, especially the one established by Mussolini in Italy 1922-43.
September 29, 2025 at 5:45 PM
trcava.bsky.social
And so today, for the first time in a very long time, I’m looking forward to a weekend ride! This experience reminded me that limiting beliefs are just that — self-imposed restrictions. Sometimes what we need most is to get out of our own way! 4/4 🧵
A picture of my new bike, a black Trek FX 2.
September 27, 2025 at 7:32 PM
trcava.bsky.social
Seriously, I am OBSESSED. I think this is my favorite song on the album. #eargasm
A screenshot from my phone of the Apple Music app, the album artwork for “Moments” by Cut Copy, song playing = “Gravity”, in lossless format.
September 21, 2025 at 11:55 PM
trcava.bsky.social
Yas! It is their larval host plant. I used to see them a lot in Tucson
Purple passionflower being visited by a gulf fritillary butterfly. Gulf fritillary butterfly depositing eggs on passionflower foliage
September 21, 2025 at 10:01 PM
trcava.bsky.social
Found another pretty passionflower today so of course I took a cutting.

I have a hunch this one is tetraploid. The stems, leaves, stipules, and flowers are huge!
A blue-violet passionflower with long purple filaments, and very large dark-green foliage. Stems, leaves, and stipules of various passionflower cuttings in a green vase.
September 21, 2025 at 9:33 PM
trcava.bsky.social
HELP WANTED!

Calling all mycophiles in California, Oregon, Washington, or British Columbia!

My research focuses on Laccaria amethysteo-occidentalis, pictured below. I need to collect mushrooms from wild and urban areas across its range.

Plz send mushrooms if you find any! I can pay shipping 💜 🍄‍🟫
A rusty-purple mushroom of the Western amethyst deceiver (Laccaria amethysteo-occidentalis)
September 20, 2025 at 10:00 PM
trcava.bsky.social
And so it begins! Laccaria fraterna — the “gumtree deceiver” 🍄‍🟫
Little red-orange mushrooms poking up out of the grass. A collection of Laccaria fraterna (gumtree deceiver) fruiting bodies collected from beneath a eucalyptus tree.
September 20, 2025 at 8:51 PM
trcava.bsky.social
At the Stanford Genetics retreat today and tomorrow. Loving the swag and looking forward to some cool talks! 🧬
A sampling of genetics-themed swag (sticker, and buttons) from the Stanford Genetics Retreat!
September 18, 2025 at 4:40 PM
trcava.bsky.social
I picked up some ADHD support books last week and I have been reading “Driven to Distraction”.

I have to say, this is a FANTASTIC resource, not just for those with ADHD, but also for parents and educators.

Know of another great ADHD resource? Recommendations welcome!
The cover of a book: “Driven to Distraction, Recoginizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood through Adulthood” by Edward Hallowell, MD and John Ratey, MD
September 14, 2025 at 10:41 PM
trcava.bsky.social
Interrupting your regular afternoon activities with cat content 😻💙
A cat (Siamese mix) with blue eyes and long fur lays in the sun coming through the window. A cat (Siamese mix) with blue eyes and long fur lays in the sun coming through the window. She is looking at her human wondering when he will stop working and prepare her dinner.
August 26, 2025 at 11:52 PM
trcava.bsky.social
Same vibe
A close-up of the SpongeBob’s face (the Nickelodeon cartoon character) with him looking very rundown and tired.
August 20, 2025 at 10:10 PM
trcava.bsky.social
Picked up some cool Trichocereus hybrids today! 🌵 #Trichocereus #bridgesii #peruvianus #pachanoi
Trichcereus hybrid seedling in small plastic pot, and aluminum foil sign with species name / cross. Trichcereus hybrid in Terra cotta pot, and aluminum foil sign with species name / cross. Cactus spines glowing gold in the sunlight.
August 8, 2025 at 1:08 AM
trcava.bsky.social
Went to the woods, found an Amanita or three — happy birthday to me! 😅
Agaricus californicus Amanita sp. Amanita pachycolea Amanita sp.
August 3, 2025 at 7:49 AM
trcava.bsky.social
And the campus passionflowers are blooming! Hoping my P. edulis produces some fruit this season! 🤞 #passiflora #passionflower #passionfruit
A blue passionflower (Passiflora caerulea or hybrid?) with an open flower nestled among the thin, deeply-lobed leaves. A close-up of a blue passionflower (Passiflora caerulea or a hybrid?)
July 31, 2025 at 11:01 PM
trcava.bsky.social
Finding many of these on my campus walks this week 🪶
A striped feather I found under an oak tree.
July 31, 2025 at 10:53 PM