I have led many wildflower walks, and one of the biggest frustrations I’ve experienced is trying to communicate plant names to a large group along a trail. If I wait for the entire group for every plant, we don’t walk very far. If the group passes along the name, it eventually gets lost in a game of “telephone”. On narrow trails, there may not be room for a large group to crowd around a plant.
The solution I have come up with is dry-erase index cards secured with a clothespin. After writing the name, I either clip the card to the plant or set the card on the ground with a clothespin to weigh it down if it’s windy.
An added benefit is that participants don’t need to write down names because they can take a photo of the plant with the label, and they can see the spelling instead of needing to guess. If we’re making a loop, I find a volunteer to collect the cards after the group has passed.
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Great idea! I usually do something like type up a plant list after the fact and e-mail it to participants.
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Thanks for sharing! We’re definitely going to use this idea on the next wildflower walk at Watson Rare Native Plant Preserve.
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Great, I hope it works well for you. The last time I used it, several people thanked me for making it easier to get the right plant names.
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This is a great analog solution!
Someday we might all have AI glasses that let you as the guide answer live questions, no matter where the attendees are: either a couple of people away from you (in a small crowd around the plant), or lagging behind because they’re still looking at a previous plant.
Another idea is to print out QR codes for the species that you anticipate seeing. People can scan these codes with their phone, and the code will take them wherever you want.
For example, it could take them to the “About” page on iNat, where they could click on the taxonomy tab, and then they might have a question like, “How do you know this is a member of Gentianaceae?” (or whatever plant family it is).
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This is 100% a great idea.
Can those cards be printed/written-upon with something permanent? I’m thinking a ruler on the bottom (or top?) edge would be nice to show size for when someone takes a photo.
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I numbered a batch of them with a permanent marker, and that worked fine. Inkjet ink won’t stick to them and I don’t recommend running them through a laser printed because it could melt the laminated layer and that could get stuck inside your printer. But you could print a ruler on sticker paper and stick that to the card.
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I have a laminating machine, so I could make my own cards. I thought about making pre-printed cards with names, but my mom, who often leads the tours, said it would be a pain to have to look through a stack to find the right one. My counter was that she would have to remember how to spell the scientific names. Now I’m thinking I could print out a list of names (alphabetically) that she can fold up and stick in her pocket that she could pull out if we can’t remember the spelling of something. I have already been working on a checklist. Or I could just include the names of things we don’t know by heart so the list is shorter. Like, I know she can spell Silene subciliata, but has trouble with Symphyotrichum. I can spell Symphyotrichum, but have trouble with remembering names with double letters like Sarracenia and Vaccinium.
In the example photo it is pretty clear which plant the card goes with, but in a bog with so much stuff crammed together it wouldn’t really work. Maybe we can take some of the little flags on metal sticks that we use to mark plants/boundaries temporarily, and attach the cards to them with a clothespin. Or we could put a short description on the card like the color of the flower to make it easier to indicate which plant the name goes with.
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A bog would make it a bit more difficult to mark individual plants. Pin flags could work, or the plastic sticks that florists use to hold name cards in bouquets.
The ground can be very rocky in the desert so I’ve had limited success with using stakes on my walks.
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What a brilliant idea. I’ll pass it on to whoever is leading the Rondebosch Common Spring walk tomorrow. I really enjoy this walk but find it very frustrating having to wait until the whole group, sometimes 40+ finally reach the point of interest.
