Both biological evolution and textual criticism – together with quite a few other disciplines that require for their study what is often called “trees of history” (Robert J. O’Hara, “Trees of History in Systematics and Philology”, Memorie della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano 27.1 [1996]: 81–88) – deal with the phenomenon of “descent with modification”. In other words, they rely on arborescent graphics that organize related members of a family according to their agreements and, more importantly, their innovations. Such diagrams, called stemmata in textual criticism, have been useful tools for editors when working towards a critical edition. However, this lecture will show how the information revealed by such visual representations can be of use far beyond the purpose of editing, as several aspects of the transmission, migration, and adaptation of the text to different cultural environments can be potentially scrutinized.