Palm Tree growing in a spiral

[daviddsz]

Hello dear members of the IPS forum. I recently went on a vacation on Zanzibar and I’ve seen some very distinct palm tree shapes. Some appear to be growing in a near perfect spiral / circle shape. I was wondering if anyone has experienced something like this and how it’s possible to shape a palm tree like this. I am not an expert nor do I have much knowledge about palm trees. I would be very happy if a kind member of this forum had an answer to this. I have attached two pictures of palms I’ve seen here growing in a circle. Any ideas or experiences are much appreciated. Thanks :)

[SeanK]

That's the most extreme I've ever seen 

[StAug772]

So insane! Never seen anything close to that. Following for others insight. 

[PindoPalm]

You really gotta question what it’s been through to achieve that. I’ve seen loops before especially in areas with little growing space but never ones this extreme.

[Kim]

My wild guess is another tree (palm or other heavy trunk) fell hard against the palm, and wasn't removed right away.  Then over time, with the weight shifting on the palm as the fallen tree deteriorated, the palm continued to grow, possibly resulting in this kinky look.  🤷‍♀️

[realarch]

I remember being in Thailand during the IPS Biennial back in 2012 and seeing artificially deformed palms at Nong Nooch Gardens. They must have patiently wrapped the growing point over long periods of time to achieve the novelty exotica look. Could be what’s going on with the Zanzibar specimens. Personally not a fan. 

Tim

[TropicsEnjoyer]

On 3/8/2025 at 2:13 PM, realarch said:

Personally not a fan

Imo it’s pretty cool, but definitely not something that should be overused. It’s nice to create a unique look but only for certain situations. Because most of the time the most beauty comes from symmetry and simplicity.

[daviddsz]

Thanks for all the replies so far. I think that probably @realarch guess is the closest one to what is happening. I dont think this happened naturally, as there is 2 like this right next to each other. I'm thinking they must have slowly bent it for a long time using various techniques.

[Than]

On 3/8/2025 at 9:13 PM, realarch said:

I remember being in Thailand during the IPS Biennial back in 2012 and seeing artificially deformed palms at Nong Nooch Gardens. They must have patiently wrapped the growing point over long periods of time to achieve the novelty exotica look. Could be what’s going on with the Zanzibar specimens. Personally not a fan. 

Tim

I thought of doing this once with some fast growing palm, but the angle in this photo is extreme imo and doesn't look natural.