Within the UAE, this species is widespread in the Hajar Mountains and Ru'us al-Jibal (Jongbloed et al. 2003, Feulner 2011), and also occurs on Jebel Hafeet (RBGE Herbarium; coll. J.N.B. Brown, west side of the mountain, 1983). It has been recorded at altitudes up to 1,350 m (Jongbloed et al. 2003, Feulner 2011). The global range of this species is the eastern Mediterranean to the Arabian Peninsula to Iran (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

Within the UAE, this species is widespread throughout sand desert (Jongbloed et al. 2003). Globally, the native range of this species spans from the eastern Mediterranean to the Arabian Peninsula (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

The presence of this species in the UAE is not yet confirmed, although presence in parts of the Ru'us al-Jibal close to Oman is possible as suitable habitat occurs at similar elevations (G.R. Feulner pers. comm. 2019), and S. Ghazanfar (pers. comm. 2019) reports that there is a specimen at held at RBG Kew from the UAE. Feulner (2011) recorded the species from a site in the Ru'us al-Jibal of Oman (Awshaq basin and As-Sayh/As-Saye plain) to the northeast of the Sahasa plain, on slopes beside the open upper reaches of a wadi below Jebel Harim and Ra's Mintera (G.R. Feulner pers. comm. 2019). Other records found from the area are: (1) Patzelt et al. (2014; rocky limestone plateau; 1,450 m, northern Oman: Musandam, Jebel Harim, Sahil Al Sahosa (Sahasa plain)), and (2) <a href=""http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00903483"">RBGE Herbarium</a> (coll. A. Patzelt, 2014, 1,433 m, silty area on Sahasa plateau, Jebel Harim area). The global range of this species is from Egypt (Sinai), through the Arabian Peninsula (although not recorded for the UAE), to Iran and Pakistan and north to Central Asia (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

In the UAE, this species is restricted to the Ru'us al Jibal (Jongbloed et al. 2003), where it was first recorded for the UAE at Wadi Beh (Böer and Chaudhary 1999). Feulner (2011) recorded the species from c. 250 m to at least 1,200 m elevation in wadis. Shahid (2017) recorded the species from Wadi Ghalilah (Ra's al-Khaimah). The EOO, based on the map from Jongbloed et al. (2003) and the records from Shahid (2017), is highly restricted, at less than 200 km². The AOO is a maximum of c. 180 km² but is likely to be very much less. The global range of this species is circum-Mediterranean, extending to north-east Africa, through much of the Arabian Peninsula, and on to Iran and Iraq (Plants of the World online, Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

Within the UAE, it has been recorded from the Ru'us al-Jibal (Jongbloed et al. 2003), although this occurrence is now considered uncertain and may refer to one or more other Galium species (Feulner 2011, 2016) and its presence in the country requires confirmation. The species has not been confirmed from Oman, with a record from there requiring confirmation (S. Ghazanfar pers. comm. 2019). Globally, the native range of this species spans across Europe, to the Arabian Peninsula and to the western Himalayas (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

This species is widespread within the north of the Hajar Mountains, south to the Al Munay'i area (Jongbloed et al. 2003, Sharjah Seedbank & Herbarium; S. Gairola pers. comm. 2019), in addition to the Ru'us al-Jibal (Jongbloed et al. 2003, Feulner 2011). Globally, this species ranges from the Canary Islands to the Mediterranean basin, northeast tropical Africa and east to Pakistan and Transcaucasus (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

Within the UAE this species is widespread within the northern Hajar Mountain range and in the southern part of the Ru'us al-Jibal (Jongbloed et al. 2003). This plant has been recorded from elevations up to 1600 m in the Ru'us al-Jibal (Feulner 2011). Globally, the native range of this species spans from Spain, across northern Africa and on to the Arabian Peninsula and Pakistan (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

The species is common and widespread in the Hajar Mountains and the Ru'us al-Jibal (MEW 2010) in the UAE. In the Ru'us al-Jibal, the species occurs to at least 1,500 m elevation (Feulner 2011). The species is present in Wadi Wurayah National Park (Feulner 2016) and in the 'Olive Highlands' in the southern parts of the Hajar Mountains in the UAE (Feulner 2014). The global range of this species is uncertain as it has been widely introduced and naturalised; it appears to to have a circum-Mediterranean native distribution, extending as a native to parts of western, central and eastern Europe (Marhold 2011), but considered an archeophytic introduction in the UK (BSBI/BRC 2017) and some other countries, and through the Arabian Peninsula (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019). Introduced to South and East Asia, southern Africa, and the Americas.

In the UAE, the species is known from north of Masafi (A.R. Western and F. Karim; Jongbloed et al. 2003) on gravel plains in the Hajar Mountains (MEW 2010) and the Ru'us al-Jibal (Feulner 2011). The species has not been recorded for Wadi Wurayah National Park, but could easily be missed in surveys (Feulner 2016) and may occur there. In the Ru'us al-Jibal, the species is known from two localities, both within Omani territory, one being bedrock slopes at c.900 m above Wadi Sha'am, very close to the UAE border, and the other being the spring at 'Ayn as-Sih (470 m) in Wadi al-Ayn (Feulner 2011). The species has an almost circum-Mediterranean distribution (Marhold 2011), extending eastwards through the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman; Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

The species was originally described for the UAE from Wadi Wurayah National Park (WWNP; Shahid and Rao 2015). However, Feulner (2016) later revised the identification of his records to K. elatine, and comments that ""Four of the very few UAE records [of K. elatine] are from WWNP.""; the location of records outside WWNP is not known. The global range of this species is from Macaronesia, through much of Europe to Central Asia (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019). Marhold (2011) includes parts of North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean in the distribution. GRIN (2019) considers the species native to Europe, parts of northern Africa, West Asia, and also the Arabian Peninsula (Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen). The species has been widely introduced and is considered a noxious weed in some countries.