Wow!

I'm no expert, but almost for certain, those now exposed roots were once covered by growing medium, which then gets washed away, little by little, when the plants are repotted into a much larger "show" containers.

The tangled, claw-like roots in the first photo look as if they were once growing down the sides, and taking the shape of the original, smaller, pot. Plant was then raised up when repotted and the growing medium was lowered to expose the fantastic roots.

My guess for the "octopus" Adeniums: The caudices were raised, and supported while just the tips of the roots were trained downwards, and encouraged to grow into the potting medium. As the roots elongate and thicken, more and more of the roots are exposed, until the plants look as pictured above.

Both growing styles are works-in-progress, and must take quite a few years of intense attention to train plants to grow in this stylized manner.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I guess that some growers like this kind of staging, and presentation. Interesting to see to what extent plant material can be manipulated to grow in such unnatural ways.

Frank

I've seen Jericson doing the same thing to his seedlings. It's here in the archives somewhere. It involves some staking while gradually encouraging roots to extend downwards. Not really my kind of thing, but it's an interesting project. Maybe the roots can be spread far enough apart and be made to grow with enough space for a pot of haworthia underneath or something. Or spare keys.

Those in the first picture are considered natural roots. The natural roots are trained with precision tools and some bamboo sticks to hold every single root into place. The plant is raised every year or so to expose more roots until eventually you have this mound.

The second image you have posted is the waterfall style. The roots are cut to form symmetrical like legs, then maintained over time to form fat legs. The same training technique is applied but sticks are used to lift the plant. Every year they raise it a bit more to expose more roots and it eventually will be able to stand on its own once those roots strengthen.

Tracy