The living Tetracentron sinense is native to southern China and the eastern Himalaya, where it grows at altitudes of 1,100–3,500 m (3,600–11,500 ft) in a temperate climate; it has no widely used common name in English, though is sometimes called "spur-leaf".

[citation needed] Tetracentron shares with Trochodendron the feature, very unusual in angiosperms, of lacking vessel elements in its wood.

The fossil record, extending back to the Eocene, shows a much wider distribution than modern times.

Specimens from British Columbia and Washington state are found in a series of Eocene Lakes in the Okanagan Highlands region in association with several extinct Trochodendron species.

The Paleogene species Tetracentron piperoides from Alaska is currently regarded as suspect due to the lack of associated fruits.