diff --git a/arraycontext/__init__.py b/arraycontext/__init__.py
index 00e542dec0502c3a6754a18c78978940052c0f9c..b01b9917864052ca11f754dbb53bef30130da402 100644
--- a/arraycontext/__init__.py
+++ b/arraycontext/__init__.py
@@ -44,8 +44,8 @@ from .container.traversal import (
     multimap_array_container, multimap_reduce_array_container,
     multimapped_over_array_containers, outer, rec_map_array_container,
     rec_map_reduce_array_container, rec_multimap_array_container,
-    rec_multimap_reduce_array_container, thaw, to_numpy, unflatten,
-    with_array_context)
+    rec_multimap_reduce_array_container, stringify_array_container_tree, thaw,
+    to_numpy, unflatten, with_array_context)
 from .context import (
     Array, ArrayContext, ArrayOrContainer, ArrayOrContainerOrScalar,
     ArrayOrContainerOrScalarT, ArrayOrContainerT, ArrayT, Scalar, ScalarLike,
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ __all__ = (
         "with_container_arithmetic",
         "dataclass_array_container",
 
+        "stringify_array_container_tree",
         "map_array_container", "multimap_array_container",
         "rec_map_array_container", "rec_multimap_array_container",
         "mapped_over_array_containers",
diff --git a/arraycontext/container/traversal.py b/arraycontext/container/traversal.py
index 048f6a19e9e6e88484edc80ae48ee610337d9d73..b59fe79451e4f0f702c61dc65bc044653232b4e7 100644
--- a/arraycontext/container/traversal.py
+++ b/arraycontext/container/traversal.py
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 .. autofunction:: rec_map_reduce_array_container
 .. autofunction:: rec_multimap_reduce_array_container
 
+.. autofunction:: stringify_array_container_tree
+
 Traversing decorators
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 .. autofunction:: mapped_over_array_containers
@@ -224,6 +226,33 @@ def _multimap_array_container_impl(
 
 # {{{ array container traversal
 
+def stringify_array_container_tree(ary: ArrayOrContainer) -> str:
+    """
+    :returns: a string for an ASCII tree representation of the array container,
+        similar to `asciitree <https://github.com/mbr/asciitree>`__.
+    """
+    def rec(lines: List[str], ary_: ArrayOrContainerT, level: int) -> None:
+        try:
+            iterable = serialize_container(ary_)
+        except NotAnArrayContainerError:
+            pass
+        else:
+            for key, subary in iterable:
+                key = f"{key} ({type(subary).__name__})"
+                if level == 0:
+                    indent = ""
+                else:
+                    indent = f" |  {' ' * 4 * (level - 1)}"
+
+                lines.append(f"{indent} +-- {key}")
+                rec(lines, subary, level + 1)
+
+    lines = [f"root ({type(ary).__name__})"]
+    rec(lines, ary, 0)
+
+    return "\n".join(lines)
+
+
 def map_array_container(
         f: Callable[[Any], Any],
         ary: ArrayOrContainer) -> ArrayOrContainer:
diff --git a/test/test_utils.py b/test/test_utils.py
index 94f6b0a31888564658612212e0daae15dd065ae0..4bb49c87ec183487ace560a7058ee53f5ae1eea4 100644
--- a/test/test_utils.py
+++ b/test/test_utils.py
@@ -144,6 +144,51 @@ def test_dataclass_container_unions() -> None:
 # }}}
 
 
+# {{{ test_stringify_array_container_tree
+
+
+def test_stringify_array_container_tree() -> None:
+    from dataclasses import dataclass
+
+    from arraycontext import (
+        Array, dataclass_array_container, stringify_array_container_tree)
+
+    @dataclass_array_container
+    @dataclass(frozen=True)
+    class ArrayWrapper:
+        ary: Array
+
+    @dataclass_array_container
+    @dataclass(frozen=True)
+    class SomeContainer:
+        points: Array
+        radius: float
+        centers: ArrayWrapper
+
+    @dataclass_array_container
+    @dataclass(frozen=True)
+    class SomeOtherContainer:
+        disk: SomeContainer
+        circle: SomeContainer
+        has_disk: bool
+        norm_type: str
+        extent: float
+
+    rng = np.random.default_rng(seed=42)
+    a = ArrayWrapper(ary=rng.random(10))
+    d = SomeContainer(points=rng.random((2, 10)), radius=rng.random(), centers=a)
+    c = SomeContainer(points=rng.random((2, 10)), radius=rng.random(), centers=a)
+    ary = SomeOtherContainer(
+        disk=d, circle=c,
+        has_disk=True,
+        norm_type="l2",
+        extent=1)
+
+    logger.info("\n%s", stringify_array_container_tree(ary))
+
+# }}}
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     import sys
     if len(sys.argv) > 1: