Etymology Hondoensis references Hondo, Japan.

Description Rhizome: erect, bearing several fronds in a tuft, branching, scaly.
Frond: 70 cm high by 20 cm wide, evergreen, monomorphic, blade/stipe ratio: 2:1.
Stipe: grooved, straw-colored, dark, scaly at base, scales lanceolate, brown, vascular bundles: 3-7 in a c-shaped pattern.
Blade: 2-pinnate-pinnatifid, more on older plants, ovate to triangular, leathery, light brown, linear to bullate scales on rachis, below, absent above.
Pinnae: 10 to 12 pair, opposite, the basal pinnae anadromous; costae grooved above, continuous from rachis to costa; margins margins lobed or serrate; veins free, forked.
Sori: round, in 1 row between midrib and margin, extras at base of larger pinnules, indusium: reniform, gray-white early, brown later, at a sinus, sporangia: brownish, maturity: summer.

Culture Habitat: on floor of lowland forests. Distribution: Japan, Korea and China. Hardy to -30°C, USDA Zone 4.

Distinctive Characteristics new growth reddish, similar to D. eythrosora, confused with it in commerce, the latter larger when mature, more arching, the crowns wider spreading, stipe scales paler, segments rounder