Within the UAE, it occurs in wadis and associated gravel plains in the Hajar Mountains (MEW 2010). The global range of this species extends from north and northeast Africa to Macaronesia and throughout temperate Eurasia (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

Within the UAE, this species is known from a small number of scattered localities in the northern parts of the country; a roadside in Hatta (Jongbloed et al. 2003), Ras al Khaimah (along the Emirates road, E611, and from a locality south of the E611; M. Tsaliki pers. comm. 2019), from Nad al Shiba (Dubai), and from the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve (Gallacher and Hill 2008). This species is likely to have been under-recorded in the UAE, and may have a significantly wider distribution within firm sandy areas. Globally, its range spans across tropical and subtropical Africa, through to the Arabian Peninsula and on to southeastern Asia and Java (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

This species was considered widespread throughout the Hajar Mountains in the UAE (Jongbloed et al. 2003), however this wide distribution may be exaggerated, resulting from confusion with A. aspera. The species has been recorded from the Ru'us al-Jibal (Feulner 2011) and M. Tsaliki (pers. comm. 2019) records the species from several localities (Huwaylat, Jebal Sahab (olive wadi, Wadi Sfai), Wadi Maidaq and Wadi Naqab) within R'as al Khaimah Emirate from 210 to 983 m asl. However, all records from the Wadi Wurayah National Park refer to A. aspera, which is more common in the Hajar Mountains than A. telephioides (Feulner 2016). G.R. Feulner (pers. comm. 2019) has rarely recorded A. telephioides with certainty. Globally, the native range of this species spans from Cape Verde across the Mediterranean and northeast tropical Africa to northwest India (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

This species is known from wadis within the Hajar Mountains and has also been recently been recorded from Jebel Hafeet (Jongbloed et al. 2003, Sakkir and Brown 2014). In addition, it is thought to have been artificially planted in the Liwa region and has been recorded on offshore islands of Abu Dhabi (no specific localities are given), which may also be the result of artificial planting (Jongbloed et al. 2003, Sakkir et al. 2017). Due to its range, it is possible that the natural occurrence of this species, within the Hajar Mountain range, actually lies across the border in Oman, rather than in the UAE specifically (G.R. Feulner, in litt, MEW 2010). Globally, the native range of this species spans from the Sahara to India (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

Within the UAE, this species has only been recorded from Wadi Bih (Böer and Chaudhary 1999, cited in Feulner 2011). Globally, the native range of this species extends from the Mediterranean and northern Africa to Pakistan (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

In the UAE, Feulner (2011) reported the species from higher altitudes (1,500 m) in the Ru'us al-Jibal. The species appears to have a disjunct global range, with occurrences in Sinai, the Arabian Peninsula (Oman and saudi Arabia, UAE not listed), Turkey and Syria, and then Central Asia cited by Plants of the World Online (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019), whilst Chamberlain (1996) restricted the species to south-west Asia (Oman and Saudi Arabia).

This halophytic species is found in scattered locations throughout the UAE (Jongbloed et al. 2003). The origin of the species in the UAE requires confirmation; whilst GRIN (2019) considers it to be native to the UAE, others consider (Anum et al. 2018, Xu 2019) it to be native to Africa. The global distribution of this species is from Africa to Israel and the Arabian Peninsula, and from Pakistan to India (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019). Globally, it is a widespread introduced ruderal invasive weed of crops and cultivated areas.

This species is mentioned in the draft Red Data Book of the UAE (MEW 2010) as unconfirmed. Two specimens, collected in 1986, from the UAE are held at the University of Vienna Herbarium (WU); the foothill area of Jebel Milaya, Sharjah (<a href=""https://herbarium.univie.ac.at/database/detail.php?ID=910470"">UBT0004415</a>) and from near Al Awir, Dubai (<a href=""https://herbarium.univie.ac.at/database/detail.php?ID=910462"">UBT0004414</a>). The identity and origin of the records of this species in the UAE require confirmation. Globally, this species is considered to be native to eastern Spain, Italy (Sicilia), and Malta in Europe, and in Africa from North Africa and the Sahara (Anthos 2019, Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

Within the UAE, this species is known to occur in the high Ru'us al-Jibal (Feulner 2011) above 1,000 m elevation (G.R. Feulner pers. comm. 2019). The species has also been recorded from the upper parts of Wadi Siji in the Wadi Wurayah National Park (WWNP) buffer zone, and it is also thought to also occur in WWNP itself. Globally, this species' native range encompasses Macaronesia, Europe, western Asia and the Arabian Peninsula (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

In the UAE this species is recorded from various widespread locations (Jongbloed et al. 2003), including Jebel Hafeet, Hatta and Mafraq. The species is apparently absent from the draft Red Data Book for the UAE (MEW 2010) and from Al Mehairbi et al. (2019). The global range of this species spreads across northern Africa to Ethiopia, through the Arabian Peninsula and north to Syria, with records from Pakistan and southern Africa (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2018).