Habit: Crystals usually rough, often massive, found in close association with columbite-group minerals. Black, brownish-black to brown to yellowish brown due to alteration. Opaque, transparent in thin fragments; Vitreous to resinous Luster, but may be subMetallic, splendent.
Environment: Found as an accessory mineral in RE-rich granitic Pegmatites; rarely as a detrital mineral
Etymology: Named after Colonel Vasilii Evgrafovich von Samarskii-Bykhovets (1803-1870) of the Russian Corps of Mining Engineers