The following Processing program uses a well-known L-System (see this Wikipedia page for more information) to “grow” a realistic looking plant with fractal structure. Below is a video of the frames generated by the program followed by the code that created it.

import java.util.Stack; // I use java Stack objects

// written by Jeff - www.fiz-ix.com

String wseq = "0"; // the starting string of the L-System

Stack xSave = new Stack(); // a Stack to store x coordinates of plant
Stack ySave = new Stack(); // a Stack to store y coordinates of plant
Stack aSave = new Stack(); // a Stack to store angles of branches

int height = 400; // height of output
int width = 400; // width of output

int zz = 0; // interation of L-System

void setup() {
  size(width,height);
  background(200,224,255); // blue
  frameRate(1);
}


void draw() {
  zz++;
  if (zz > 7) { // start growing from scratch again
    zz = 1;
    wseq = "0";
    background(200,224,255);
  }
  int treeLength = height/15;
  int xStart = width/2;
  int yStart = 0;
  background(200,224,255);
  drawPlant(zz, treeLength, xStart, yStart);
  iteratePlant();
  delay(3000);

}


void iteratePlant() { // a function to generate successive 
 // iterations of the L-System
 String wseq0 = wseq;
 wseq = "";
 for (int ii=0;ii < wseq0.length();ii++) {
   String cchar = wseq0.substring(ii,ii+1);
   if (cchar.equals("0")) {  // replace 0 with following string
     wseq = wseq + "1MLL0RP0RP1LP10RM0"; 
   }
   else if (cchar.equals("L")) {  // keep L
     wseq = wseq + 'L';
   }
   else if (cchar.equals("R")) { // keep R
     wseq = wseq + "R";
   }
   else if (cchar.equals("P")) { // keep P
     wseq = wseq + "P";
   }
   else if (cchar.equals("M")) { // keep M
     wseq = wseq + "M";
   }
   else if (cchar.equals("1")) { // replace 1 with 11
     wseq = wseq + "11";
   }
 }
}

void drawPlant(int iteration, int treeLength, int xStart, int yStart) {
  int lineLength = treeLength/iteration;
  int nBNow = 0; // keep track of the number of branches in the plant
  // initial parameters
  color lc = color(0, 255, 0); // leaf color is green
  color bc = color(117, 71, 25); // branch color is brown
  int xNow = xStart;
  int yNow = yStart;
  double aNow = 1.57079632679; // 90 degrees
  double aDelta = 0.436332313; // 25 degrees
  
  for (int ii=0;ii<wseq.length();ii++) {
   String cchar = wseq.substring(ii,ii+1); 
   // the following are the rules for the "turtle" to draw the 
   // L-System
   if (cchar.equals("0")) {  
     // do nothing
   }
   else if (cchar.equals("1")) { // draw a line segment
     int xStop = xNow+(int)(lineLength*Math.cos(aNow));
     int yStop = yNow+(int)(lineLength*Math.sin(aNow));
     fill(bc);
     stroke(bc);
     strokeWeight(0.2*(zz*3-nBNow));
     line(xNow,height-yNow,xStop,height-yStop);
     xNow = xStop;
     yNow = yStop;
   }
   else if (cchar.equals("M")) { // change direction by aDelta
    aNow = aNow + aDelta; 
   }
   else if (cchar.equals("P")) { // change direction by -aDelta
     aNow = aNow - aDelta;
   }
   else if (cchar.equals("L")) {  // push the current x and y 
     // coordinates and angle to the Stacks
     xSave.push(new Integer(xNow));
     ySave.push(new Integer(yNow));
     aSave.push(new Double(aNow));
     nBNow++; // one more branch
   }
   else if (cchar.equals("R")) {  // draw a leaf and recover last 
     // items from the Stacks
     fill(lc);
     stroke(lc);
     strokeWeight(1);
     ellipse(xNow,height-yNow,3+iteration,3+iteration); 
     // draw a leaf
     xNow = (Integer)xSave.pop(); // recover last saved x coordinate
     yNow = (Integer)ySave.pop(); // recover last saved y coordinate
     aNow = (Double)aSave.pop(); // recover last saved angle
     nBNow--;
   }
  }
  
  
}