On Saturday, Sept. 9, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., noted amateur mycologist Greg Marley will lead a workshop, “Foraging for Mushrooms,” at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.

Marley, author and well-known teacher and lecturer, leads wild mushroom foraging walks throughout Maine and New England. Marley will teach the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to begin to identify common Maine wild mushrooms, and will focus on both their edible and medicinal uses. The morning will be a mix of lecture and demonstration using fresh mushrooms and photos of Maine mushrooms, giving participants the foundation necessary to begin to identify common specimens. After lunch, the program will move into the forest to view and collect wild mushrooms.

Participants are invited to bring mushrooms collected on their own property, both for identification and to add to the day's diversity. Baskets, ample curiosity, and mushroom field guides are the recommended equipment for the day. The class will be held rain or shine.

Marley has been pursuing his passion for mushrooms for more than 30 years. He has led countless foraging walks as well as day- and year-long courses on mushroom identification. His interests and expertise include foraging, mushroom cultivation, collecting and cooking wild species, the ecology of mushrooms in our forests, and the use of medicinal mushrooms. He has been a volunteer mushroom identification consultant to the Poison Control Centers of Northern New England for a number of years, and the proprietor of Mushrooms for Health, a company offering healing mushroom supplements and education to our communities. Marley is the author of “Mushrooms for Health; Medicinal Secrets of Northeast Fungi” and “Chanterelle Dreams and Amanita Nightmares: The Love, Lore and Mystique of Mushrooms.”

Admission to the Gardens for the full day is included in the registration fee. Participants can register online at www.mainegardens.org or call Taylor Eddy at 633-8012.