{"id":16946,"date":"2020-03-19T10:27:12","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T10:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/?p=16946"},"modified":"2025-03-27T10:31:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T17:31:01","slug":"qr-code-plant-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/03\/19\/qr-code-plant-tour","title":{"rendered":"Plants tell their stories with QR codes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Stinging
UW Bothell photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Douglas Esser
Walking around the University of Washington Bothell and Cascadia College campus, students and visitors will notice some plants have name tags with more than a name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tagged plants, mostly located near the Sarah Simonds Green Conservatory,<\/a> are labeled with QR codes. Through the interactive technology, the plants can now tell their own stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See it, read it <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Screen shot from QR tag. Courtesy of Sarah Verlinde<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A QR code is a square matrix of dots that works with a smartphone like a bar code crossing a checkout counter scanner. Simply pointing a smartphone camera at the QR code opens a browser, and a webpage appears with detailed information. The QR interactivity is built into most iPhones and can be installed with a code reader app on Android phones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, when you see a bush on campus and its \u201cred elderberry\u201d tag, just pull out your phone, center the QR code on the camera screen, and a second later you\u2019re reading, \u201cCommonly known as red elderberry, Sambucus racemosa, is widely dispersed in the United States\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Verlinde, a specialist in the UW Bothell Office of Research<\/a> who volunteers as managesr of the UW Bothell Herbarium<\/a>, came up with the idea of a QR code plant walk or tour. She implemented it, as her time allowed, over several years with the help of Tyson Kemper, the grounds supervisor and herbarium curator, plus students and volunteers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bothell ethnobotany <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Sarah
Sarah Verlinde created the QR plant tour. UW Bothell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are nearly 50 plants in the system. Staking a nametag in the ground was the easiest part. Most of the work went into researching and compiling site-specific information. That information also can be accessed through the wetlands website<\/a>. Verlinde and her team created the content, with special attention to the traditional knowledge and practical uses of plants by indigenous people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe included a lot of ethnobotany. Sometimes that\u2019s hard to find,\u201d Verlinde said. \u201cIf available, we wanted to make sure we included how local tribes, like the Skagit, Snohomish and Salish, used these plants.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at the knowledge base and a plant simultaneously, visitors also can see how it could be used in restoration and the benefits for wildlife and the environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pitcher
Pitcher plant in Conservatory greenhouse. UW Bothell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some of the tags are on tropical plants, such as the insect-eating pitcher plant, in the greenhouse, which isn\u2019t normally open to the public. But, most of the tagged plants are outside: around the Conservatory, next to the nearby trail on the edge of the wetlands, and near the Activities & Recreation Center and the campus bus stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verlinde wanted the plant tour to be available to members of the public who might be visiting campus or walking by on the trail. \u201cThey can interact with this space without anybody being here, which is really nice,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verlinde selected native perennials for most of the plants on the tour. Many are shrubs or trees that are present year-round. A few die back during the winter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resource for students <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
From left, Sarah Verlinde, Audrey Figgins, Jessica Rouske. UW Bothell photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The QR tags are a practical benefit for students taking environmental classes in the wetlands that involve plant identification. \u201cNow you have a sure ID,\u201d said Jessica Rouske, who had several courses that used the wetlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think this gives them students a wider array of plants, and you can learn more about our native species, which I think is super important for all sorts of different courses,\u201d said Rouske, a herbarium volunteer who continued volunteering after graduating in 2019 in Biology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audrey Figgins, who is graduating in June in Environmental Studies, volunteered on the herbarium project as the community-based learning part of an Environmental Issues course. The experience raised her interest in botany and deepened her appreciation of the wetlands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI understand the space differently now \u2014 what kinds of native plants we have here,\u201d said Figgins, who would like to work as an environmental reporter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the future, Verlinde hopes the campus will create a brochure mapping all the plants on the tour. She\u2019d also like to see the number of QR tags expanded to more plants on campus, such as the Food Forest along the Promenade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many more plants with stories to tell. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to a UW Bothell Herbarium project, dozens of plants, bushes and trees on around campus have labels with QR codes that a smartphone can read to open a website with site-specific information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_is_archived":false,"_archived_contact_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[202,218,214],"tags":[263,326],"school":[],"class_list":["post-16946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-news","category-community-engagement","category-research","tag-campus","tag-wetlands"],"acf":{"related_links":{"toggle_visibility":false,"link_1":"","link_2":"","link_3":"","link_4":"","link_5":""},"highlight_box":{"toggle_visibility":false,"title":"","content":"","button":"","button_style":"angled-purple-button","button_screen_reader_text":""},"contact_type_1":{"toggle_visibility":true,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"contact_type_2":{"toggle_visibility":false,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"social_media":{"toggle_visibility":false,"facebook_url":"","instagram_url":"","linkedin_url":"","twitter_url":"","youtube_url":""},"blog_archive_sidebar_visibility":false},"yoast_head":"\nPlants tell their stories with QR codes - 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