Phylogeography of the high alpine plant Senecio halleri (Asteraceae) in the European Alps: in situ glacial survival with postglacial stepwise dispersal into peripheral areas.

Whether alpine plant species survived Pleistocene glaciations in situ on high alpine nunatak mountains is still under debate. To test this hypothesis, Senecio halleri, a high alpine and endemic species with a narrow distribution range in the European Alps, was chosen as a model organism. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphisms of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA PCR-RFLPs) were used in a phylogeographic analysis of 14 populations of S.