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Barcoding is a recent technology introduced in an old science, systematics, which aims to identify and classify species. Invented and promoted by one part of the systematicians (the molecularists), its success demands an active collaboration of those systematicians who base their work on the observation of morphologic characters (the morphologists). Drawing on empirical surveys carried out in contrasted fields, we analyse how the molecularists seek to enrol the morphologists in barcoding. We show that the molecularists deploy a pluralistic enrolment strategy, based on a set of pedagogical, rhetorical and social competencies. This strategy enables them to take into account the high diversity and particularity of the morphologists and their work conditions. We also underline the factors favouring this enrolment strategy, such as the molecularists’ participation in the collection campaigns and the support of morphologists converted to barcoding.