This species occurs throughout UAE waters. Globally, it is restricted to the Western Indian Ocean where it occurs from South Africa to Mozambique (McKay 1984) and the Red Sea to the Arabian Gulf (B. Russell, K. Carpenter and Y. Iwatsuki pers. comm. 2013), Pakistan (Psomadakis et al. 2015) and questionably in western India (Smith and McKay 1986, Iwatsuki et al. 1995). Its depth range is 0-68 m.

This species occurs throughout UAE waters. Globally, it is widespread in the Indian Ocean and western Pacific (van der Elst 1993, Eschmeyer 2014). This is a reef-associated and amphidromous (Riede 2004), shallow water fish, but the exact depth range it occupies is unknown.

Within the UAE, this species is only known from two localities; a plantation at Lulayah near Khor Fakkan (Western 1987) on the east coast, and from Al Ain near Jebel Hafeet (Jongbloed et al. 2003). Continued presence at both sites requires verification, given the age of the records and the extensive commercial and urban development that has occurred at both localities in recent years. Globally, this species occurs in Central and East Africa, through the Arabian Peninsula, to Pakistan and India (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2018).

In the UAE, the species occurs in the southern Hajar Mountains and on Jebel Hafeet (Jongbloed et al. 2003). The species is absent from the Ru'us al-Jibal (Feulner 2011). There is a single historical record of two plants from a tributary of mid-Wadi Zikt in the Wadi Wurayah National Park buffer zone (Feulner 2016). Gillet (2006) recorded the species from Wadi Khutwa near Al Ain, but it is uncertain if this record is from within the UAE. In the Arabian Peninsula, the species is known from Oman, Saudi Arabia and Yemen (Hjertson 1995), and the United Arab Emirates (Jongbloed et al. 2003). The global range of this species is from the eastern Mediterranean to through Egypt to north-east Africa, and through the Arabian Peninsula to Thailand (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

This species is described as being 'widespread' within the UAE and growing within plantations (Jongbloed et al. 2003). In addition, R. Western recorded this species from Abu Dhabi. The global distribution of this species is uncertain. GRIN (2019) considers it to be native to West Asia (Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq), Central Asia, western China and the Caucasus, introduced and naturalised elsewhere. Plants of the World Online (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019), gives the native distribution as northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and central Asia. In the Arabian Peninsula, this species is known from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait (Miller and Cope 1996). There don't appear to be any current specimens collected from the UAE within the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh's Herbarium collection (RGBE Edinburgh 2019).

This species is recorded for the UAE by the draft Red Data Book (MEW 2010), however no distribution data has been found. G.R. Feulner has not recorded the species for the UAE (pers. comm. 2019). This species has been considered to be restricted to the mountain areas in northern Oman, where it is found in the Western and Eastern Hajar Mountains (Huber-Morath 1984, Patzelt 2014), however, according to S. Ghazanfar (pers. comm. 2019), the species is found in northern Oman, on the mountains, on rocky slopes and mountain sides, amongst rocks, and in crevices, from 400 to 1,800 m elevation, and extends into the UAE.

Jongbloed et al. (2003) presented only a single record (Wadi Siji) for the UAE, with MEW (2010) recording three unspecified sites. However, since then the species has been found at numerous sites within the Hajar Mountains. Records include Wadi Wurayah National Park (WWNP; Feulner 2016, Judas 2016), the gravel outwash on the UAE side of the border from Wadi Agram (Gardner 2009), from the gravel plains in the vicinity of Jebel Hafeet (Sakkir and Brown 2014, EAD 2018) and Wadi Helo (El-Keblawy et al. 2016). Mahmoud et al. (2018) found the species in gravel plains and wadis in their recent study of dams along the western slopes of the Hajar Mountains, without specifying the localities. The Sharjah Seedbank & Herbarium holds six records from the UAE: Wadi Al Nahwa (Nahwa), Sharjah-kalba Road and Shawka (Ras Al Khaimah), Sayh Mudayrah (Ajman), Al Khudairah, Al Dhaid (Sharjah) and Fili. In the WWNP, the two specimens were found in synanthropic areas (the picnicking area below the Wadi Wurayah waterfall and in the silt behind the Wadi Wurayah dam; Feulner 2016), meaning the origin of the species in the park may require confirmation. Due to the absence of precise locality data for some records, it is difficult to accurately estimate the EOO and AOO. However, it is suggested that the EOO is likely to be less than 5,000 km² and the AOO less than 100 km². This species is endemic to Oman and the UAE (Patzelt 2014). Within Oman, it is found in the north (Western and Eastern Hajar Mountains) and in the centre, on Masirah Island.

In the UAE, this species is found in the Hajar Mountains, where G.R. Feulner (in litt, MEW 2010) reports it from a small number of records, although Feulner (2016) considered it to be widespread in the mountains but very rare. Two specimens are known from the Wadi Wurayah National Park (WWNP) area: a historical record from the upper Wadi Siji in the WWNP buffer zone, and one from the upper Wadi Zikt (Feulner 2016). <a href=""http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00181462"">RBGE Herbarium</a> hold one specimen from five kilometres southeast of Masafi, below Jebel Masafi. A further record is known from Wadi Hatta and Jebel Hatta. Both the EOO (&lt;310 km²) and the AOO (&lt;100 km²) are highly restricted.This species is restricted to northern Oman and the UAE. In Oman, it is found in the Jabal Al Akhdar range of the Western and Eastern Hajar Mountains, including from Hatta southwards to Wadi Jizzi (G.R. Feulner in litt, MEW 2010).

Within the UAE, the species is restricted to the Hajar Mountains (Jongbloed et al. 2003). The species is found in small number in Wadi Wurayah National Park (scattered locations in the lower Waterfall Wadi, lower tributary of Wadi Ghayl, and the upper Wadi Siji, with a single historical record from Wadi Zikt; Feulner 2016) but it is absent from the Ru'us al-Jibal (Feulner 2011). This species is endemic to the Hajar Mountains in the UAE and northern Oman (Patzelt 2014).

Within the UAE, the species has been recently recorded from four widely-spaced localities within Wadi Wurayah National Park (WWNP; Feulner 2016, Judas 2016). Feulner (2016) also notes a record from the 'Olive Highlands', on a rocky ridge on the slopes of Jebel Qitab southwest of Fujairah city, in Fujairah Emirate. The species is considered endemic to the Hajar Mountains which span Oman and the UAE (Feulner 2011). Despite the few records shown here, it is likely to be more widespread, and it is hard to identify when not in flower.