In the UAE, this species is widespread in the Hajar Mountains, and also occurs on Jebel Hafeet (Jongbloed et al. 2003). The species occurs in the southern Ru'us al-Jibal to c. 750 m (Feulner 2011) and in Wadi Wurayah National Park (WWNP; Feulner 2016). The global range of this species is Oman and the UAE in the Arabian Peninsula (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

In the UAE, this species is widespread in the Hajar Mountains, including the Ru'us al-Jibal (Feulner 2016), and on hillsides, also occurring occasionally on sand and gravelly plains (Jongbloed et al. 2003, Feulner 2014, 2016). G.R. Feulner (in lit, MEW 2010) notes that the species occurs on sandy gravelly plains as far west as the Sweihan area. The species occurs on Jebel Hafeet (Stuart and Stuart 1998, Fawzi and Ksiksi 2012), in the 'Olive Highlands' (Feulner 2014), and rarely in the Wadi Wurayah National Park (WWNP; Feulner 2016). The global range of this species is from the Arabian Peninsula to Iran (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

In the UAE, this species is recorded from sand plains near Al Ain (Jongbloed et al. 2003). Jongbloed et al. (2003; based on records from a helicopter survey by Mandaville in the early 1980s; G.R. Feulner pers. comm. 2020) records the species from the high Ru'us al-Jibal. However, in his checklist of the Ru'us al-Jibal species, Feulner (2011) only records this species from Jazirat al-Ghanem in northern Oman, and G.R. Feulner (pers. comm. 2020) confirmed that the Mandaville records are from Oman. G. Brown (pers. comm. 2019) considers that the species is absent from the UAE. It is possible that records should instead refer to O. arabicus. The global range of this species extends across northern Africa, and through the Arabian Peninsula to Iran and Pakistan (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

This species is thought to persist at a range of altitudes, with records from around 900 m in the Ru'us al-Jibal (Feulner 2011). It has been recorded at Jebel Hafeet in the UAE (Sakkir and Brown 2013). This species is known to be native to Iran (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

This species was recently recorded for the UAE from Sa'aa, Al Ain, near the border with Oman (EAD; S. Sakkir pers. comm. 2019). The species may be introduced, but it is probably one of several species, more common further south in Oman, that taper out northwards, and have their northernmost outliers in the Al-Ain area, at the northern end of Jebel Hafeet (G.R. Feulner pers. comm. 2020). This species is native to the southern Arabian Peninsula (Oman and Yemen; Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019). Plants of the World Online does not list the UAE as a native country of occurrence for this species (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

Within the UAE, this species is widespread throughout the northern Emirates (G. Brown pers. comm. 2019, Jongbloed et al. 2003). The native range of this species spans across Africa and Indo-China (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

Cited in Jongbloed et al. (2003) as 'Echinops sp.', this species is widespread in the Hajar Mountains and also occurs in the Ru'us al-Jibal (Jongbloed et al. 2003) and on Jebel Hafeet (Feulner 2014). The species occurs in Wadi Wurayah National Park (Feulner 2016) and in the 'Olive Highlands' (Feulner 2014). This species is endemic to the Arabian Peninsula, although not listed for the UAE (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

Within the UAE, it is found within the Ru'us al-Jibal, at altitudes ranging from sea level to above c.1,000 m (Jongbloed et al. 2003). Although often associated with anthropogenic habitats in the UAE, it is considered a native species here. Globally, this species occurs from the Arabian Peninsula to Central Asia and Myanmar (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

Within the UAE, it has been recorded from Jebel Masafi and the Ru'us al-Jibal (Jongbloed et al. 2003). It is generally found across the mountains in the UAE (MEW 2010). In the Ru'us al-Jibal, it has been recorded from 250 m to at least 1,900 m in altitude (Feulner 2011). The species is also present in Wadi Wurayah National Park (Feulner 2016). The estimated EOO for this species is less than 2,000 km². Globally, this species is native across Africa and the Arabian Peninsula (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

In the UAE, this species was for a long time recorded only from the Ru'us al-Jibal (Jongbloed et al. 2003, Feulner 2011) but it was also known to occur in northern Oman (Ghazanfar 1992). It has since been recorded for Wadi Helo (coll. A. El-Keblawy, 2010; Sharjah Seedbank & Herbarium) and from Wadi Mai, Fujairah (Sharjah Seedbank & Herbarium). The global range of this species is from Egypt and northeast Sudan, through the Arabian Peninsula, to Iran and Pakistan (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019). It occurs in adjacent parts of northern Oman, including the Musandam Peninsula.