This is a photo of a White Pine tree. Although you cannot tell the species of tree from this distance/angle, if you walk up close to the tree and look at the branches, you can see that instead of leaves, this tree has needle-like structures at the end of its branches. What distinguishes this as a white pine is the fact that the needles come in clumps of five, as opposed to a red pine whose needs come in clumps of three. This tree is located on the Old Java Quad on SLU's campus in an open area. This is a fairly large tree and most likely has an extensive root system. Interestingly enough, a trees roots make up more than half of its entire biomass and 90% of the roots are located near the top of the soil -- this is because that is where most of the nutrients are. What I find interesting about this photo is the fact that the tree is isolated and not in a dense, wooded area. For me, it is easiest to identify pine trees, and the fact that this tree sits just outside of Johnson Hall of Science is too perfect!