It is a native to the Arabian Peninsula and also to the northern half and western part of Africa[2] where it is widely distributed and tends to grow in places where groundwater is present.

The petioles (leaf stalks) are about a metre long, sheathing the branch at the base and armed with stout upward-curving claws.

The inflorescences are similar in general appearance, up to about 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) long, branching irregularly and with two or three spikes arising from each branchlet.

It is widespread in the Sahel and grows from Mauritania and Senegal in the west, through Central Africa, and east to Egypt, Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania.

It is also native to the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula (Israel, Sinai, Yemen and Saudi Arabia) and is reportedly naturalized in the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean.

The fibre and leaflets are used by people along the Niger and Nile Rivers to weave baskets, such as in the material culture of the Manasir, mats, coarse textiles, brooms, ropes, string and thatch.

A commercial drink in Niger, called Torridité Glacée, is made from this fruit, somewhat reminiscent in taste of ice coffee or milk chocolate.

On September 24, 2007, it was announced that a team of Egyptian archaeologists led by Zahi Hawass, discovered eight baskets of 3,000-year-old doum fruit in King Tutankhamun's tomb.