L-SYSTEM TURTLE

Start with one letter. Replace every letter with a string, over and over. Then read the result as instructions for a pen: draw, turn, remember, go back. That is the whole idea, and it is enough for a fern.

Any other letter is a silent symbol: it takes part in the rewriting but draws nothing. That is how the plants work — X never touches the paper, it just decides where the next F goes. A rule may be split into alternatives with a probability, as F → F[+F]F : 0.4, and the seed makes the result repeatable: the same seed always grows the same plant.

The string doubles or triples with every iteration, so it is capped at two million symbols — the counter above says how close you are. Past that the browser would spend a minute building a string that draws as a solid blob.

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