[5] The age at which they reproduce is unknown, however, and growth rates vary widely depending on the amount of light that the trees grow in.

While apparently maladaptive, the strategy has been suggested to be effective at maintaining populations, as when the parent tree dies it creates a gap in the canopy which the seedlings require to grow.

[2] The seeds, which weigh around half a gram[6] are predated while still on the tree by parrots and bruchid beetles (Amblycerus tachygaliae[6]) and once on the forest floor by rodents, peccaries and fungi.

Compared to other monocarpic trees that grow in similar environments, T. versicolor has relatively high seed mass, dispersal capability, photosynthetic flexibility and seedling survival in the shaded understory in the first year of growth.

[7] Indigenous people in the Amazon basin use an extract of the tree to treat fungal skin infections[4] and it is also used as timber.