Tree::DAG_Node may look like overshooting, but it does what it promises, i.e. a simple way of dealing with complex tree structures. I share your chagrin about lack of tests, but having seen that knowledgeable people like merlyn and perrin use it, I feel confident that it must not be as bad as you may think.

A simple example that makes me love this module:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use Tree::DAG_Node;

my $tree =
[
        [
            'Node1'
        ],
        [
                [ 'GrandChild1' ],
                [ 'GrandChild2' ],
            'Node2'
        ],
  'Root'
];

my $dagnode= Tree::DAG_Node->lol_to_tree($tree);
print map {"$_\n"} @{ $dagnode->draw_ascii_tree };


__END__
And the output is:

                |
              <Root>
   /-----------------\
   |                 |
<Node1>           <Node2>
              /-------------\
              |             |
        <GrandChild1> <GrandChild2>
[download]

There is also a nice Introduction to Tree::DAG_Node in Tutorials.