The Honeylocust tree is a member of the Pea family, native to the eastern United States. It is medium sized, with a short, thorny, trunk and dark brown bark that breaks into long, flat ridges. Its oval seeds are contained in twelve inch, twisted, straplike pods. The alternate leaves are singly or doubly compound, with elliptical leaflets. Their delicacy creates a uniquely irregular, open, and lacy crown.

The Honeylocust is tough and can survive under harsh conditions, and so it is widely grown as a shade tree in cities. Cultivated types usually lack thorns and some produce fewer pods. The tree's popularity as an ornamental is due to the elegance lent by its informal habit and frondlike foliage, which casts a beautiful dappled shade that shifts with the wind. Viewed from below, the canopy is almost fractal, with its layers of intersecting, acending, and spiraling symmetrical leaves and twisted twigs.

Today's progammer can take inspiration from what he sees in the natural world. The software problems of building a self-replicating seed that can grow into a photosynthesis machine boggle the mind and give us humble humans and our electronic child something to take awe in.