Trochodendron is native to Japan, southern Korea, Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands, with fossils known from North America, Europe, and the Russian Far East.

Trochodendron and Tetracentron lack vessel elements in their wood, a quite unusual feature in angiosperms.

This has long been considered a very primitive character, resulting in the classification of these two genera in a basal position in the angiosperms; however, genetic research by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group has shown it to be in a less basal position (early in the eudicots), suggesting the absence of vessel elements in these two genera is a secondarily evolved character, not a primitive one.

Among the middle Miocene Sarmatian palynoflora from the Lavanttal Basin Austria researchers have recognized Trochodendron fossil pollen.

Key relatives of the fossil taxa found with Trochodendron pollen are presently confined to humid warm temperate environments, suggesting a subtropical climate during the middle Miocene in Austria.