An Edit Distance between Quotiented Trees

In this paper we propose a dynamic programming algorithm to compare two quotiented trees using a constrained edit distance. A quotiented tree is a tree defined with an additional equivalent relation on vertices and such that the quotient graph is also a tree. The core of the method relies on an adaptation of an algorithm recently proposed by Zhang for comparing unordered rooted trees. This method is currently being used in plant architecture modelling to quantify different types of variability between plants represented by quotiented trees.