The species found on Mount Kenya are by far the best model for altitudinal variation. Dendrosenecio keniodendron is the species which grows at the highest of altitudes, Dendrosenecio keniensis is found at the lower altitudes of the range where the species grows and Dendrosenecio battiscombei grows at the same altitudes as D. keniensis but in the wetter environments. The other mountains which are not tall enough to have a big one at the top have the two, one species for the drier land and one for the damper environments or just one because the environment is not so extreme. This simplification works extremely well as an introduction to the giant groundsel of East Africa with one exception, Kilimanjaro who has the one species that lives at the top and only one species that lives below; subspecies and varieties living in the moister environments.