my @list = f(
     a => [ 'b', 'c' ],
     b => [ 'c', 'd' ],
     c => [ 'd' ],
     e => [ 'b', 'a' ],
     f => undef,
);


sub f {
  $h{$_}||=[]for map@$_,%h=@_;
  sub x {
    my$x=1;
    $x+=x($_)for@{@h{@_}||[]};
    $x
  }
  sort{x($a)<=>x$b}keys%h
}