All except two species of the genus are native to the Americas. S. fruticosa has a native range that extends from South Africa to Ethiopia, across Arabian Peninsula to Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka and S. erecta is endemic to Tropical Africa, from Tanzania to Senegal. The putative species S. sundaica, has a range that encompasses Malesia but is considered by most authors to be an adventive polypoliod variety of S. humilis. Ecological range extends from savanna and thorn scrub to tropical forest and montane forests.