[3] It has only one known species, Samuelssonia verrucosa, a small tree which grows to 5 meters tall which is native to the Massif de la Hotte in Haiti.

[2] Samuelssonia verrucosa grows in lower montane rain forest at approximately 1,150 m (3,770 ft) elevation, with an average annual rainfall of 2,000–2,400 mm (79–94 in).

Associated plants include trees of the genera Ocotea, Persea, Sideroxylon, Ficus, and Tabebuia, shrubs of Psidium, Eugenia, Guettarda, Rondeletia, Capparis, Hamelia, Psychotria, Palicourea, Conostegia, Wercklea, Mikania, Calyptranthes, ferns of Elaphoglossum, Dryopteris, and Asplenium, herbs of Ponthieva, Peperomia, Lepidaploa, Urera, Pilea, Elephantopus, and Salvia, epiphytes of Tillandsia and Bromelia, and vines of Hyperbaena, Passiflora, Manettia, and Arthrostylidium.

[1] The genus and the species were both circumscribed by Ignaz Urban and Eric Leonard Ekman in Arkiv Bot.

[3] The genus name of Samuelssonia is in honour of Gunnar Samuelsson (1885–1944), who was a Swedish botanist, from the Uppsala University where he was a curator of the Botanical Museum.