Scientists use DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) barcoding to identify many varieties of plants. All living things have a unique DNA structure. While DNA is like a blueprint or recipe for an organism, barcoding is a numeric way of labeling something, similar to the way cashiers at supermarkets scan barcode products for prices. In this New York Voices segment, scientists collect plant materials from the 50-acre forest of the New York Botanical Garden and create unique barcodes to represent each plant_s DNA. This project is the first step in collecting samples to create a universal DNA barcode library of all of the genes of life.