diff --git a/jax/_src/tree_util.py b/jax/_src/tree_util.py
index 4991577c6..1ead7be9a 100644
--- a/jax/_src/tree_util.py
+++ b/jax/_src/tree_util.py
@@ -722,22 +722,49 @@ FlattenedIndexKey: Any = pytree.FlattenedIndexKey  # type: ignore
 
 
 @export
-def keystr(keys: KeyPath):
+def keystr(keys: KeyPath, *, simple: bool = False, separator: str = '') -> str:
   """Helper to pretty-print a tuple of keys.
 
   Args:
     keys: A tuple of ``KeyEntry`` or any class that can be converted to string.
+    simple: If True, use a simplified string representation for keys. The
+      simple representation of keys will be more compact than the default, but
+      is ambiguous in some cases (for example "0" might refer to the first item
+      in a list or a dictionary key for the integer 0 or string "0").
+    separator: The separator to use to join string representations of the keys.
 
   Returns:
     A string that joins all string representations of the keys.
 
   Examples:
     >>> import jax
-    >>> keys = (0, 1, 'a', 'b')
-    >>> jax.tree_util.keystr(keys)
-    '01ab'
+    >>> params = {'foo': {'bar': {'baz': 1, 'bat': [2, 3]}}}
+    >>> for path, _ in jax.tree_util.tree_leaves_with_path(params):
+    ...   print(jax.tree_util.keystr(path))
+    ['foo']['bar']['bat'][0]
+    ['foo']['bar']['bat'][1]
+    ['foo']['bar']['baz']
+    >>> for path, _ in jax.tree_util.tree_leaves_with_path(params):
+    ...   print(jax.tree_util.keystr(path, simple=True, separator='/'))
+    foo/bar/bat/0
+    foo/bar/bat/1
+    foo/bar/baz
   """
-  return ''.join(map(str, keys))
+  str_fn = _simple_entrystr if simple else str
+  return separator.join(map(str_fn, keys))
+
+
+def _simple_entrystr(key: KeyEntry) -> str:
+  match key:
+    case (
+        SequenceKey(idx=key)
+        | DictKey(key=key)
+        | GetAttrKey(name=key)
+        | FlattenedIndexKey(key=key)
+    ):
+      return str(key)
+    case _:
+      return str(key)
 
 
 # TODO(ivyzheng): remove this after another jaxlib release.
diff --git a/tests/tree_util_test.py b/tests/tree_util_test.py
index 834af9c5f..e5e649d43 100644
--- a/tests/tree_util_test.py
+++ b/tests/tree_util_test.py
@@ -728,6 +728,19 @@ class TreeTest(jtu.JaxTestCase):
         ],
     )
 
+    strs = [f"{tree_util.keystr(kp, simple=True, separator='/')}: {x}"
+            for kp, x in flattened]
+    self.assertEqual(
+        strs,
+        [
+            "0/foo: 12",
+            "0/bar/cin/0: 1",
+            "0/bar/cin/1: 4",
+            "0/bar/cin/2: 10",
+            "1: [0 1 2 3 4]",
+        ],
+    )
+
   def testTreeMapWithPathWithIsLeafArgument(self):
     x = ((1, 2), [3, 4, 5])
     y = (([3], jnp.array(0)), ([0], 7, [5, 6]))