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.

The draft Red Data Book for UAE plants (MEW 2010) considered this species to be common along the Gulf coast and adjacent salt flats in the sandy deserts in the south of the Emirates. It has also been recorded from Al Ain area. Jongbloed et al. (2003) considered T. nilotica the valid name with T. arabica as a synonym, giving the distribution as along the Arabian Gulf coastline, as well as in sandy desert areas with near-surface brackish water.

The current presence and origin of this species in the UAE are uncertain. Jongbloed et al. (2003) listed 'Salix cf. acmophylla' and showed a single site in the northern Hajar Mountains in the UAE, based on a record of a solitary plant in a wadi bed plantation near Al-Ghail (G.R. Feulner, in litt, MEW 2010), but that plant was not found on a return visit to the area a number of years later (G.R. Feulner pers. comm. 2019). Feulner (2001) and Jongbloed et al. (2003) reported two sites with small stands of S. acmophylla in wadis in Wilayat Mahdhah, Oman, adjacent to the UAE border north of Buraimi. Feulner (pers. comm. 2019) noted that all records from northern Oman and the UAE are from agricultural or peri-agricultural areas. This species occurs mainly in the Middle East, from Sinai and Turkey east through Iran and Iraq to Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India, with a few scattered population in the Arabian Peninsula (Nasir and Ali 1980-2005). In the Arabian Peninsula, this species is known from north-west and the east of Saudi Arabia (Chaudhary 2001) and Oman (Miller and Cope 1996).

Within the UAE, this species has been recorded from a small number of localities. A.R. Western collected the species from Kalba oasis in 1985 from c.3 km inland (Jongbloed et al. 2003, <a href=""http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00358122"">UAE Herbarium specimen</a>), however, the Kalba area was searched for this species over the period 2007-2009 without success according to Shahid and Rao (2017). G.R. Feulner (pers. comm. 2019) has found the species c.10 km north of Kalba. Shahid and Rao (2017) found a new locality for this species 200 m from the Gulf coast near Oud Al Owaid in Umm al-Quwain Emirate (although Shahid and Rao (2017) refer to the site being in Ra's Al Khaimah Emirate), however when this site was revisited in 2013, it was found to have been cleared for development, and the species was not refound (Shahid and Rao 2017). Al Meharibi et al. (2019) consider the species to be restricted to Kalba. G.R. Feulner (in litt, MEW 2010) reported the species from a tributary of Wadi Shawka (Ra's Al Khaimah) and G.R. Feulner (pers. comm. 2019) reported that the species has been found at other peri-anthropic and wild localities. The Sharjah Seedbank and Herbarium hold a herbarium specimen from Sharjah city (Al Wahda Street, Sharjah), however, this locality is heavily urbanised, and whilst the locality is within an unpaved car parking area, the persistence of the species at this site requires confirmation. The global distribution of this species is across Africa from the Sahara to Somalia and south to Tanzania, the eastern Mediterranean and through the Arabian Peninsula to Southeast Asia (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019). The distribution shown by Fowler (2002) omits parts of the Arabian Peninsula, including Oman, Qatar and the UAE. GRIN (2019) cite only Saudi Arabia for the Arabian Peninsula. G.R. Feulner (in litt, MEW 2010) reported the species from a wadi at the base of Jebel Ghawil in Oman, and in the Arabian Peninsula, while A. Patzelt and S.G. Knees (unpublished Arabian Peninsula Red List assessment) gave the regional distribution as occurring in Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, including Socotra (Miller and Morris 2004, Cope 2007).

The species is apparently known from Mushrif National Park (now a suburban park, but originally a traditional oasis where remnant native flora were found) in Dubai (coll. K. Müller-Hohenstein, 1986; <a href=""http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00450010"">RBGE Herbarium</a>). The species is also known from a locality near the Emirates Road in Sharjah (Sharjah Seedbank & Herbarium record). The origin and distribution of the species within the UAE requires confirmation. The global range of this species is circum-Mediterranean, through much of the Arabian Peninsula, east to India and north to Central Asia (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).

The species is mentioned by Jongbloed et al. (2003) without details. The species has been recorded from Jebel Hafeet (Sakkir and Brown 2014) and from Fujairah (RBG Edinburgh Herbarium; Jebal Ruwaydah at the head of Wadi Sidakh). More recent surveys confirm that the species is abundant in deserts in the northern Gulf (G. Brown pers. comm. 2019). The native range of this species is along Mediterranean coastal countries of North Africa to Ethiopia, and the eastern Mediterranean (from Greece eastwards), through the Arabian Peninsula, to Mongolia (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019). The species has become widespread and invasive in arid and semi-arid regions of North America and Australia (CABI 2019).

This species has been recorded in the UAE (Jongbloed et al. 2003), although detailed information regarding its distribution is lacking. Globally this species occurs in Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2018).

Within the UAE, the species has been recorded in Wadi Bih within the Ru'us al-Jibal (Böer and Chaudhary 1999, Jongbloed et al. 2003, Feulner 2011); the elevation range requires confirmation. Feulner notes a second unconfirmed locality at high elevations of around 1,300 m (Feulner 2011). Globally, the species occurs in North Africa, Greece, Turkey, much of the Middle East, India and Central Asia (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2018).

In the UAE, the species occurs within the Hajar Mountains and along the east coast (Jongbloed et al. 2003), and has also been recorded from Jebel Hafeet, including Wadi Tarabat (Sakkir and Brown 2014, EAD (S. Sakkir pers. comm. 2019). The origin of the species in the UAE has been questioned, and the UAE native plant working group (June 2019) did not reach a consensus on this species. The species has a wide global distribution through Africa and southern Europe to East Asia (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019). The species is found throughout Oman (in sandy and rocky wadis, beside roads, near cultivation, and in disturbed and waste ground; S. Ghazanfar pers. comm. 2019). Elsewhere in the Arabian Peninsula found in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen (S. Ghazanfar pers. comm. 2019).

Within the UAE, it has been recorded from the Ru'us al-Jibal where it is known from all elevations (Jongbloed et al. 2003). It is known to occur as far north as Jebel Jais and has also been recorded from Wadi Naqab (M. Tsaliki pers. comm. 2019). Its range extends into the northern Hajar Mountains, and an unidentified Galium species has been recorded from Wadi Wurayah National Park (Feulner 2016). The origin of the species in the UAE requires confirmation, and the species is considered introduced to the UAE by MoCCaE (O. Al Shamsi pers. comm. 2018). The global native range of this species is obscure and it is considered to be be very widely introduced and naturalised (GRIN 2019). Plants of the World Online considers it to be native to Europe, northern Africa and temperate and tropical Asia (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019). It has also been introduced to the Americas, Greenland and Australasia (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).