def t(root, children=None, debug=False, root_id=None):
    "Create (DGParented)Tree from a root (str) and a list of (str, list) tuples."
    if isinstance(root, Tree):
        if children is None:
            return root
        return root.__class__(root, children, root_id)

    elif isinstance(root, basestring):
        root = debug_root_label(root, debug, root_id)

        # Beware: (DGParented)Tree is a subclass of list!
        if isinstance(children, Tree):
            child_trees = [children]

        elif isinstance(children, list):
            child_trees = []
            for child in children:
                if isinstance(child, Tree):
                    child_trees.append(child)
                elif isinstance(child, list):
                    child_trees.extend(child)
                elif isinstance(child, tuple):
                    child_trees.append(t(*child))
                elif isinstance(child, basestring):
                    child_trees.append(child)
                else:
                    raise NotImplementedError

        elif isinstance(children, basestring):
            # this tree does only have one child, a leaf node
            # TODO: this is a workaround for the following problem:
            # Tree('foo', [Tree('bar', [])]) != Tree('foo', ['bar'])
            child_trees = [Tree(children, [])]

        else:
            # this tree only consists of one leaf node
            assert children is None
            child_trees = []

        return DGParentedTree(root, child_trees, root_id)

    else:
        raise NotImplementedError