Is native to; Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Republic of, Zambia and Zimbabwe and has spread to other parts of the continent.

Seeds dispersed by animals and man after they eat the fruit. Propagation is by using seedlings but it produces root suckers which can also be used. It is slow growing. Shade trees should be planted near other trees such a A. tortilis for support. Pollarding is done for fodder and production of short stems to be harvested for toothbrushes.

It occurs in Woodlot, hedges and enrichment systems. To get high seed settings and seed oil content, harvesting is recommended 3 months after seed setting. This may be due to the utilization of food reserve in the cotyledons for the development of fruit pulp, and can be seen as the pulp content of fruit increases.
Coppicing is advantageous for the tree?s use as a fuel, and the branches are repeatedly cut to produce short stems that are harvested for toothbrushes. It is generally a slow-growing tree.

When it occurs on river terraces, it is a preferred host of Cistanche tubulosa, an obligate phanerogamic root parasite. Defoliating larvae of several beetles can attack the tree too, and leaves are often susceptible to attacks by the lepidopteran Colotis ephiae. The mite Eriophyes causes leaf gall and a number of fungi such as Cercospora udaipurensis, Placosoma salvadorae and Sephogloeum salvadorae damage the leaves.