[1] Its members, the giant groundsels, are native to the higher altitude zones of ten mountain groups in equatorial East Africa,[5] where they form a conspicuous element of the flora.

Groundsels of several species are found throughout the world as common roadside weeds, but nowhere except in the highlands of Africa do they exhibit such large tree forms.

The mountains rise far above the surrounding plains and plateaus,[7] tall enough to reach above the tree line[8] forming "islands in the sky" or isolated habitats.

The communities of giant Dendrosenecio and giant lobelias found on these African mountains are an exceptional example of parallel or convergent evolution and repeated convergent evolution between these two groups; providing evidence that the unusual features of these plants are an evolutionary response to a challenging habitat and an environment which can be easily described for biogeographic analysis.

[7] Little variation was found in molecular phylogeny among the 40 recorded giant senecio collections (40 accessions), yet as a group they differ significantly from Cineraria deltoidea, the closest known relative.