I like your original title, "How do Montipora grow?"
I had a coral that was touching the back glass in my reef and I know it was because it started growing and now there is a ~5 inch circle of encrusting coral on that wall with the center of the growth has a dime sized empty spot, I guess that part got ripped away when I rearranged the rocks? I didn't realize it had grown there until I was cleaning up the tank and moving things around and found it.
God makes life, and growth is an indication of that process, it would seem? I'm gonna see if I can get a picture of the swirl of growth...