This species has been recorded at Qarn Nizwa (Jongbloed et al. 2003). More recently, it has also been recorded at Jebel Hafeet (Sakkir and Brown 2013). It is also known from Jebel Fayah and was previously recorded from Khor Zawra, although this locality was recently converted into a golf course. The estimated extent of occurrence for this species is 1,432 km². The global distribution of this species comprises the south-east of the Arabian Peninsula and western Socotra (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

This species is locally abundant north of Wadi Qawr and south of Masafi in the Hajar Mountains, within the southeast of the UAE mountains (Feulner 2014, Jongbloed et al. 2003). It is typically found at lower elevations between c. 500 to 600 m (Feulner 2014). According to Feulner, this plant has a restricted range within the UAE (G.R. Feulner, in lit, MEW 2010). The global distribution of this species extends from North East Tropical Africa, Jordan to the Arabian Peninsula, and Pakistan to West Himalaya (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2018).

This species is found in scattered locations within the east of the UAE. Jongbloed et al. (2003) report it from mountains and wadis, and show scattered point localities east of Al Ain, from near Hatta, and two other eastern localities, but also show a significant distribution along the coast east of Abu Dhabi city. Feulner (2011) reports occurrence in the Hajar Mountains (wadis, lower slopes, foothills and alluvial plains) without details. Mahmoud et al. (2018) reported the species from plantations along the western slopes of the Hajar Mountains. <a href=""http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00003768"">RBGE Herbarium </a>holds a specimen from the east coast from the 'Kalba date gardens' (1993). The Sharjah Seedbank & Herbarium hold records of this species from near Wahala (Sharjah) to the east near the border with Oman, from the Ras Al-Khaimah coast east at Jazirat Al Hamra, from the Sharjah-Abu Dhabi border north of Al Shwalb, and from south of Dubai city. It has also been reported from Jebel Nazwar. The native distribution of this species is from north-east Africa (Egypt to Kenya) to north-west India, and it has been introduced to the Americas (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2018).

This is a common and widespread species in the Hajar Mountains (Jongbloed et al. 2003) and also is recorded south to Jebel Hafeet (Sakkir and Brown 2014). Al Meharibi et al. (2019) show presence of this throughout the east coast. The species is recorded from the Ru'us al-Jibal, although uncertain if from parts of the mountains within the UAE, and confusion is possible with other members of the genus (Feulner 2011). Feulner (2016) considers only this species of Cymbopogon to present in Wadi Wurayah. The native range of this species is in Africa from the Sahara and the Sahel to Kenya, east through the Arabian Peninsula to Iran (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

This species was recorded in the Ru'us al-Jibal under the name, Cymbopogon jwarancuse (Jongbloed et al. 2003). It is thought to prefer high elevations (Patzelt 2015), having been recorded from the summit of Ra's Mintera, c. 1880 m asl, in the Ru'us al-Jibal (Feulner 2011). Globally, the native range of this species spans from Turkey to Socotra and on to China (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019). Plants of the World Online lists the UAE as a native country of occurrence for this species (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

This species is known from Jebel Ali (Jongbloed et al. 2003), in addition to Jebel Hafeet, Hamriyah, Sharjah, Ras al-Khaimah and Sila in the western UAE. It was also found from Wadi Siji in 2017. Crotalaria persica is known considered to have possibly been lost from Jebel Ali, in addition to subpopulations being lost due to development. In particular, a subpopulation was lost due to construction of a radio mast (G.R. Feulner pers. comm. 2019) and the occurrence in Taweela no longer exists (G. Brown pers. comm. 2019). The estimated EOO for this species is 10,500-15,000 km²and the number of threat-based locations is considered to be close to ten, according to the threat of development. Globally, this species is found from north-east tropical Africa to Pakistan (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

This species is recorded from the plains at the foot of Jebel Hafeet and along the east coast of the UAE (Jongbloed et al. 2003). This species tends to occur at lower altitudes and on gentler slopes (Ghazanfar and Fisher 1998, Feulner 2011). The estimated EOO is 7,369 km², however the AOO and the current number of locations is unknown. Its native range is from Macaronesia to India (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

Within the UAE, this species only been recorded from Wadi Siji, in the northeast of the country (Jongbloed et al. 2003). Globally, this species occurs from central and north-east Africa, to the Arabian Peninsula, Iran and India (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

In the UAE, the species occurs in the Hajar Mountains and east of Al Ain (Jongbloed et al. 2003). It has been recorded from Wadi Wurayah National Park (Judas 2016) and the park buffer zone (upper Wadi Ghulayyil Khun; Feulner 2016), Wadi Tarabat on Jebel Hafeet (Fawzi and Ksiksi 2012) and from the ""Olive Highlands"", although much less common there than at lower elevations in the mountains (Feulner 2014). MEW (2010) also reports the species from coastal wadis. The global range of this species is the eastern Arabian Peninsula to Iran and Pakistan (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

This species appears to be known from a small number of isolated records in eastern Abu Dhabi Emirate (Jongbloed et al. 2003), including records from Al Ain city and from northwest of Abu Dhabi city (Sharjah Seedbank & Herbarium) and from Wadi Al Ain (Mousa and Fawzi 2009). Mahmoud et al. (2018) reported this species from gravel plains below the western slopes of the Hajar Mountains, but without specific localities. The draft Red Data Book for the UAE (MEW 2010) excluded this species on the basis that no confirmed specimens had been seen. Convolvulus pilosellifolius is easily confused with C. prostratus in the Arabian Peninsula (Wood et al. 2015) which may impact the known distribution of this species. The native range of this species is from eastern parts of North Africa, the eastern Mediterranean to Central Asia and Pakistan (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).