Guizotia zavattarii is endemic around Mount Mega in southern Ethiopia and the Huri hills in
northern Kenya. Guizotia arborescens is endemic to the southwest of Ethiopia and
Imantong mountain areas on the border between Sudan and Uganda. Guizotia scabra
subsp. scabra is distributed from Ethiopia to Zimbabwe in the south and to the Nigerian
highlands in the west, dissected by the Sudanese desert and Congo rainforest.
Guizotia reptans is endemic to Mount Kenya, the Aaberdares and Mount Elgon region
in East Africa and is the only taxon which is not reported from Ethiopia (Dagne
1994b). Baagøe (1974) raised four points about the origin of niger: first, the highest
concentration of Guizotia species is in Ethiopia; second, G. abyssinica can also be collected
from the natural habitat; third, the similarity of the distribution of niger with
that of other cultivated crops, and fourth, the historical trade between Ethiopia and
India. This would suggest that niger is not native to India and may have been taken
from Ethiopia to India by traders