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).

In the UAE, this species is reported from a single locality in the upper parts of Jebel Hafeet (Jongbloed et al. 2003). The draft Red Data Book (MEW 2010) considered the record to be unconfirmed. Whilst detailed locality data for Jebel Hafeet are not available, the extent of occurrence and area of occupancy are both likely to be less than 8 km². Although, in general, records of this species within the UAE appear to be unconfirmed (G. Brown pers. comm. 2019). G. Brown, S. Sakkir and S. Ghazanfar state that they have not seen this species within the UAE or in Oman (pers. comm. 2019). The global distribution requires confirmation, but the species appears to be restricted to the West Asia region, from the Sinai and southern Israel to the Arabian Peninsula and east to Afghanistan (Kilian et al. 2019), although Plants of the World Online (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019) does not cite occurrence in the UAE.

Within the UAE, it is recorded from mountainous areas (MEW 2010) and can be found from the Hatta area in the south to the Ru'us al-Jibal in the north. In the Ru'us al-Jibal, it occurs from 500 m to 1,500 m altitude (Feulner 2011). In the Hatta area (and in the Hajar Mountains of Oman to the south), it can be found at wadi level (G.R. Feulner pers. comm. 2019). A distribution map is not possible due to confusion between this and other Salvia taxa. This species has a wide native range from southeastern Turkey to Central Asia and the Arabian Peninsula (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019). In Oman, this species is recorded from Musandam (Ru'us al-Jibal) southwards to the eastern Hajar (Jebel Aswad) where it is reported to be abundant (apparently localised but not rare where found; S.A. Ghazanfar pers. comm. 2019). It is also found in Wilayat Mahdhah, in the northwestern part of contiguous Oman, along the border with the UAE (G.R. Feulner pers. comm. 2019).

Within the UAE, it has been recorded at Sha'am and Abu Dhabi (Jongbloed et al. 2003). Globally, this species is native to northern Africa, the Sahara, Israel and through to the Arabian Peninsula (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).