Distantly related lineages of the enigmatic giant rosette plants of tropical alpine environments provide classical examples of convergent adaptation. For the giant senecios (<i>Dendrosenecio</i>), the endemic landmarks of the East African sky islands, it has also been suggested that parallel adaptation has been important for within-lineage differentiation. To test this hypothesis and to address ...

The naturally fragmented habitat on the tallest African mountains provides a good model system to study vicariance, dispersal, and hybridization. Many mountains are separated by lowland that likely was unsuitable for high-alpine plants even during cold climatic periods. <br> We explore the relative importance of these processes using two endemic sister species: the widespread Ethiopian/eastern East ...