taxonID	type	description	language	source
D8B17744025B546BA9DDD8633393C330.taxon	description	Figs 1, 2, 3, 5	en	Metzgar, Jordan S. (2025): Lygodium palmatum subsp. puskariorum (Lygodiaceae), a new subspecies from the eastern USA. PhytoKeys 262: 31-44, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.262.165533
D8B17744025B546BA9DDD8633393C330.taxon	diagnosis	Diagnosis. Lygodium palmatum subsp. puskariorum differs from the similar Lygodium palmatum subsp. palmatum by the absence of white to reddish-orange hairs on the abaxial surface of the sterile leaflets, the sterile leaflet segment petioles, the abaxial surface of the fertile leaflets, and the fertile leaflet segment petioles.	en	Metzgar, Jordan S. (2025): Lygodium palmatum subsp. puskariorum (Lygodiaceae), a new subspecies from the eastern USA. PhytoKeys 262: 31-44, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.262.165533
D8B17744025B546BA9DDD8633393C330.taxon	description	Description. Roots with white hairs. Rhizome approximately 1 mm wide and subterranean with dark red hairs. Leaves are evergreen and grow to three meters in length with a thin, twining stipe. Compound pinnae alternately arranged with a pinna stalk borne from the rachis. The pinna stalk branches into two primary pinna branches. Dormant pinna bud that can be glabrous or pubescent found at this branching junction. Each sterile primary pinna branch has a segment petiole terminating in a sterile segment (pinnules). Sterile segments palmately lobed, with 4 – 6 lobes per segment. Segment petioles and the abaxial surface of sterile segments are glabrous. Fertile segments are dimorphic with respect to the sterile segments. Fertile segments have reduced lamina with sporangia borne on projecting sorophores. The abaxial surface of the fertile segment lamina and the fertile segment petiole lack hairs. Sporangia are indusiate and occur in 4 – 10 pairs on a sorophore. Spores mature in the fall or early winter.	en	Metzgar, Jordan S. (2025): Lygodium palmatum subsp. puskariorum (Lygodiaceae), a new subspecies from the eastern USA. PhytoKeys 262: 31-44, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.262.165533
D8B17744025B546BA9DDD8633393C330.taxon	etymology	Etymology. The epithet “ puskariorum ” is in honor of both Allan and Donna Puskar (Fig. 1 C), retired school teachers from Wellsboro, PA. Their family name is pronounced “ push-car. ” Allan and Donna taught my high school ecology and biology courses, fueling my love for science and natural history. They have always possessed a deep commitment to their students, with a special compassion for me and many other students who did not quite belong, were down on their luck, or yearned for a larger world. They are also lifelong fern enthusiasts who, one fateful summer in 2001, taught me the basics of fern identification and inadvertently launched my career as a pteridologist. Lygodium palmatum has long been a favorite fern of theirs.	en	Metzgar, Jordan S. (2025): Lygodium palmatum subsp. puskariorum (Lygodiaceae), a new subspecies from the eastern USA. PhytoKeys 262: 31-44, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.262.165533
D8B17744025B546BA9DDD8633393C330.taxon	distribution	Geographic distribution and habitat. Lygodium palmatum subsp. puskariorum is distributed across the northeastern and mid-Atlantic USA, being found in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island (Fig. 3). Southern New Jersey, southeastern North Carolina, and central Massachusetts represent areas of secondary contact with L. palmatum subsp. palmatum. The Puskar’s climbing fern grows in moist, acidic soil in forests, bogs, and roadsides.	en	Metzgar, Jordan S. (2025): Lygodium palmatum subsp. puskariorum (Lygodiaceae), a new subspecies from the eastern USA. PhytoKeys 262: 31-44, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.262.165533
