It also has a disjunct distribution in the high mountains of East Africa from Sudan and Ethiopia in the north, through Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania, to Malawi and Zambia in the south.

It is often found near the upper limit of forest growth, giving way to giant heather zones above it.

Hagenia is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including turnip moth.

A drug obtained from the tree, known as Kousso, comprises the entire inflorescence kept in form by a band wound transversely round it.

The active principle is koussin or kosin, C31H38O10, which is soluble in alcohol and alkalis, and may be given directly in doses or in an infusion of the coarsely powdered flowers.