diff --git a/examples/WMSDescribeLayerParser.html b/examples/WMSDescribeLayerParser.html
index d1c63e75a2..94be309295 100644
--- a/examples/WMSDescribeLayerParser.html
+++ b/examples/WMSDescribeLayerParser.html
@@ -12,11 +12,12 @@
           format = new OpenLayers.Format.WMSDescribeLayer();
           html = "<br>";
           resp = format.read(req.responseText);
-          for(var i = 0; i < resp.length; i++) {
-            html += "Layer: typeName: "+ resp[i].typeName+",";
+          var layerDescriptions = resp.layerDescriptions;
+          for(var i = 0; i < layerDescriptions.length; i++) {
+            html += "Layer: typeName: "+layerDescriptions[i].typeName+",";
                 html += "<ul>";
-                html += "<li>owsURL: "+resp[i].owsURL+"</li>";
-                html += "<li>owsType: "+resp[i].owsType+"</li>";
+                html += "<li>owsURL: "+layerDescriptions[i].owsURL+"</li>";
+                html += "<li>owsType: "+layerDescriptions[i].owsType+"</li>";
                 html += "</ul>"
           }
           document.getElementById('output').innerHTML = html;
diff --git a/lib/OpenLayers/Format/WMSDescribeLayer.js b/lib/OpenLayers/Format/WMSDescribeLayer.js
index b382d3a882..e18ca83906 100644
--- a/lib/OpenLayers/Format/WMSDescribeLayer.js
+++ b/lib/OpenLayers/Format/WMSDescribeLayer.js
@@ -23,28 +23,6 @@ OpenLayers.Format.WMSDescribeLayer = OpenLayers.Class(OpenLayers.Format.XML.Vers
      */
     defaultVersion: "1.1.1",
    
-    /**
-     * Method: getVersion
-     * Returns the version to use. Subclasses can override this function
-     * if a different version detection is needed.
-     *
-     * Parameters:
-     * root - {DOMElement}
-     * options - {Object} Optional configuration object.
-     *
-     * Returns:
-     * {String} The version to use.
-     */
-    getVersion: function(root, options) {
-        var version = OpenLayers.Format.XML.VersionedOGC.prototype.getVersion.apply(
-            this, arguments);
-        // these are identical to us, but some WMS use 1.1.1 and some use 1.1.0
-        if (version == "1.1.1" || version == "1.1.0") {
-            version = "1.1";
-        }
-        return version;
-    },
-
     /**
      * Constructor: OpenLayers.Format.WMSDescribeLayer
      * Create a new parser for WMS DescribeLayer responses.
diff --git a/lib/OpenLayers/Format/WMSDescribeLayer/v1_1.js b/lib/OpenLayers/Format/WMSDescribeLayer/v1_1.js
index b2ac8cf28d..82b4ba58ce 100644
--- a/lib/OpenLayers/Format/WMSDescribeLayer/v1_1.js
+++ b/lib/OpenLayers/Format/WMSDescribeLayer/v1_1.js
@@ -45,10 +45,12 @@ OpenLayers.Format.WMSDescribeLayer.v1_1 = OpenLayers.Class(
      * data - {String} or {DOMElement} data to read/parse.
      *
      * Returns:
-     * {Array} Array of {<LayerDescription>} objects which have:
+     * {Object} Object with a layerDescriptions property, which holds an Array
+     * of {<LayerDescription>} objects which have:
      * - {String} owsType: WFS/WCS
      * - {String} owsURL: the online resource
-     * - {String} typeName: the name of the typename on the service
+     * - {String} typeName: the name of the typename on the owsType service
+     * - {String} layerName: the name of the WMS layer we did a lookup for
      */
     read: function(data) {
         if(typeof data == "string") {
@@ -56,7 +58,7 @@ OpenLayers.Format.WMSDescribeLayer.v1_1 = OpenLayers.Class(
         }
         var root = data.documentElement;
         var children = root.childNodes; 
-        var describelayer = [];
+        var describelayer = {layerDescriptions: []};
         var childNode, nodeName;
         for(var i=0; i<children.length; ++i) { 
             childNode = children[i];
@@ -89,8 +91,16 @@ OpenLayers.Format.WMSDescribeLayer.v1_1 = OpenLayers.Class(
                         typeName = query[0].getAttribute('typename');
                     }
                 }
-                describelayer.push({layerName: layerName, owsType: owsType, 
-                    owsURL: owsURL, typeName: typeName}); 
+                var layerDescription = {
+                    layerName: layerName, owsType: owsType, 
+                    owsURL: owsURL, typeName: typeName
+                };
+                describelayer.layerDescriptions.push(layerDescription);
+                
+                // deprecated array style index for backwards compatibility
+                describelayer.length = describelayer.layerDescriptions.length;
+                describelayer[describelayer.length - 1] = layerDescription; 
+                
             } else if (nodeName == 'ServiceException') {
                 // an exception must have occurred, so parse it
                 var parser = new OpenLayers.Format.OGCExceptionReport();
diff --git a/lib/OpenLayers/Format/XML/VersionedOGC.js b/lib/OpenLayers/Format/XML/VersionedOGC.js
index 7b9ef90dfb..c61584ff00 100644
--- a/lib/OpenLayers/Format/XML/VersionedOGC.js
+++ b/lib/OpenLayers/Format/XML/VersionedOGC.js
@@ -127,6 +127,11 @@ OpenLayers.Format.XML.VersionedOGC = OpenLayers.Class(OpenLayers.Format.XML, {
             var format = OpenLayers.Format[this.name][
                 "v" + version.replace(/\./g, "_") + profile
             ];
+            if (!format && ~version.indexOf('.')) {
+                // falling back to less specific parser
+                return this.getParser(
+                    version.substr(0, version.lastIndexOf('.')));
+            }
             if(!format) {
                 throw "Can't find a " + this.name + " parser for version " +
                       version + profile;
diff --git a/notes/2.13.md b/notes/2.13.md
index 726a441d60..4f0ce4079b 100644
--- a/notes/2.13.md
+++ b/notes/2.13.md
@@ -45,3 +45,7 @@ run 'build.py -h' for more details
 Corresponding issue/pull requests:
 
 * https://github.com/openlayers/openlayers/pull/528
+
+# Different return type for OpenLayers.Format.WMSDescribeLayer
+
+The return type of WMSDescribeLayer format's `read` method was different from the one of the VersionedOGC format superclass. So it was changed from an array to an object with a layerDescriptions property that holds the array. For backwards compatibility, the object still has a length property and 0, ..., n properties with the previous array values.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/Format/WMSDescribeLayer.html b/tests/Format/WMSDescribeLayer.html
index ad5860f273..7fcf7fab24 100644
--- a/tests/Format/WMSDescribeLayer.html
+++ b/tests/Format/WMSDescribeLayer.html
@@ -17,19 +17,19 @@
 
         var res = parser.read(text);
 
-        t.eq(res.length, 1,
+        t.eq(res.layerDescriptions.length, 1,
             "Only one LayerDescription in data, so only one parsed");
 
-        t.eq(res[0].owsType, "WFS",
+        t.eq(res.layerDescriptions[0].owsType, "WFS",
             "Properly parses owsType as WFS");
 
-        t.eq(res[0].owsURL, "http://geo.openplans.org:80/geoserver/wfs/WfsDispatcher?",
+        t.eq(res.layerDescriptions[0].owsURL, "http://geo.openplans.org:80/geoserver/wfs/WfsDispatcher?",
             "Properly parses owsURL");
 
-        t.eq(res[0].typeName, "topp:states",
+        t.eq(res.layerDescriptions[0].typeName, "topp:states",
             "Properly parses typeName");
 
-        t.eq(res[0].layerName, "topp:states",
+        t.eq(res.layerDescriptions[0].layerName, "topp:states",
             "Properly parses name");
 
     }