Within the UAE, it is known from a single locality in Wadi Siji (Jongbloed et al. 2003, MEW 2010). However, it is unclear whether this record represents both this species and its relative, Corallocarpus schimperi, or if it relates only to C. schimperi. Globally, this species occurs from Senegal and Eritrea to Tanzania, the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019). Plants of the World Online do not list the UAE as a native country of occurrence for this species (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

Within the UAE, this species has so far been recorded from Jebel Mleiha (Sharjah Emirate; reported by T. Carlisle via S.A. Ghazanfar pers. comm. 2019), Wadi Helo (El-Keblawy et al. 2016; record with photo, no specimen; S.A. Ghazanfar pers. comm. 2019), Jebel Mleiha (S.A. Ghazanfar pers. comm. 2019), in the western Ru'us al-Jibal (single locality above Wadi Sha'am; Feulner 2011), and in the Masafi area (G.R. Feulner, in litt, MEW 2010), including from Wadi Siji in the Wadi Wurayah National Park buffer zone (Feulner 2016). This species appears to have a Mediterranean distribution, but with no records from Libya, Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean, except Turkey, where it is considered introduced (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019), although Marhold considers it native there. TavÅŸanoäŸlu et al. (2017) give the general distribution as Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia in North Africa, Spain (including the Baleares), France, Italy and Greece in Europe, and Turkey. However, there are mentions of this species from Saudi Arabia and from Iraq; the distribution is clearly not well understood, with the species having only just been reported from North Macedonia (Matevski et al. 2019).

This species is apparently known from few records in the UAE. Jongbloed et al. (2003) reported it from Sweihan (Al Ain region) and from Bu Hasa to the west in Abu Dhabi Emirate (Brown and Sakkir 2004). Fisher (2007) recorded the species on Ras Al Akhdhar, on Abu Dhabi Island, which is now entirely developed. Globally, the species is found from the western Sahara to the Arabian Peninsula (Mandaville 1990, Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

Only one record of this species has been found, from Wadi Jeema, near Hatta town (<a href=""http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00066936"">RBGE Herbarium</a>, coll. J.N.B. Brown, 1986). There are numerous records from adjacent parts of Oman. It it endemic to the foothills and lower altitudes of the Western and Eastern Hajar mountains, extending to the Hatta hills in the UAE (S. Ghazanfar pers. comm. 2019). Plants of the World Online (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019) considers the species to be endemic to Oman.

Within the UAE, this species was recorded once from Al Ain (Jongbloed et al. 2003). More recently, it has been recorded from Wadi Hiluw (El-Keblawy 2011, El-Keblawy et al. 2016), Wadi Wurayah National Park (Wadi Wurayah dam area; Feulner 2016), and from a locality northeast of Sfai, Fujairah Emirate (D. Aplin pers. comm. 2019). There is also an unconfirmed record from Ras Al Khaimah (Khatt-Adhen Road; M. Tsaliki pers. comm. 2019). Globally, the native range of this species encompasses Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and India (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

There is a lack of information on the exact distribution of this species within the UAE, in great part due to taxonomic uncertainty surrounding its distinction from T. apollinea and T. purpurea. According to Ghazanfar (1992), Tephrosia persica should be treated as the same species as Tephrosia apollinea, whilst S. Ghazanfar (pers. comm. 2019) places T. persica as a synonym of T. purpurea. However, Plants of the World Online currently lists T. persica as a recognised species (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019). The native range of this species is the Gulf States in the Arabian Peninsula and Iran (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019). The species distribution may extend to southwestern Pakistan (Baluchistan), an Oman-Makaran distribution (G.R. Feulner pers. comm. 2020).

This species is recorded for the UAE (e.g. Brown and Sakkir 2004). However, although Plants of the World Online shows the UAE as a native country of occurrence for this species, there doesn't appear to be references to Taverniera lappacea within the UAE in the published literature, aside for Brown and Sakkir (2004). Globally, the native range of this species encompasses northeast tropical Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Pakistan (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

In the UAE, this species has been recorded from Rafiq Island (Abu Dhabi Emirate) and Ras al Khaimah beach (Böer and Chaudhary 1999), although it has been suggested that these records remain unconfirmed (MEW 2010). This species is listed as an introduced landscape plant by MoCCaE (O. Al Shamsi pers. comm. 2018). The species has a very wide global distribution (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019). It is an Eurasian southern-temperate element that has been widely naturalised outside its native range (BSBI/BRC 2017).

The distribution of this species within the UAE is apparently not well known. The species is mentioned by Jongbloed et al. (2003) with no distribution map; in addition, there are few mentions of the species in the available UAE literature, and the species does not occur in the available locality data (Sharjah Seedbank & Herbarium, RBG Kew seed survey data), which primarily cover the northern emirates. The only specific locality found (G.R. Feulner pers. comm. 2018) is from an irrigated area south of the Al Marmoom lakes.Globally, this species occurs across northern Africa to the Arabian Peninsula (Yemen, Oman and the UAE; Board of Trustees, RBG 2018).

Only three records of this species have been found for the UAE. An isotype was collected ""in the mountains"" in the UAE (presumably the Hajar Mountains) by Schimper in 1844 (held at <a href=""https://www.europeana.eu/portal/en/record/11601/_HERBARW_NHMV_AUSTRIA_87887.html"">Natural History Museum, Vienna - Herbarium W</a>). G.R. Feulner (in litt, MEW 2010) collected the species in 2004-5 from cemented dune sands at the mountain front adjacent to the Qurayyah wetland: an artificial wetland near the base of cliffs on the coastal plain north of Fujairah created by sewage dumping that has since been destroyed by development (Feulner 2016, G.R. Feulner pers. comm. 2019). Demissew and Mill (2009) reviewed a specimen from Hatta (hills and foothills, 300 m asl; specimen collected in 1986 and voucher held at <a href=""http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00421795"">RBG Edinburgh</a>). This species has a wide native range from the Sahara to Tanzania in Africa, through the Arabian Peninsula, to north-west India (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).