diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
index cb46926111..57e5b4b4f5 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
@@ -240,11 +240,15 @@ class XmlEncoder extends SerializerAwareEncoder implements EncoderInterface, Dec
 
             if ($key === 'item') {
                 if (isset($value['@key'])) {
-                    $data[(string) $value['@key']] = $value['#'];
+                    if (isset($value['#'])) {
+                        $data[(string) $value['@key']] = $value['#'];
+                    } else {
+                        $data[(string) $value['@key']] = $value;
+                    }
                 } else {
                     $data['item'][] = $value;
                 }
-            } elseif (array_key_exists($key, $data)) {
+            } elseif (array_key_exists($key, $data) || $key == "entry") {
                 if ((false === is_array($data[$key]))  || (false === isset($data[$key][0]))) {
                     $data[$key] = array($data[$key]);
                 }
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
index 4986f791c9..23cb0217a6 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
@@ -251,6 +251,39 @@ class XmlEncoderTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
         $this->assertEquals($expected, $this->encoder->decode($source, 'xml'));
     }
 
+    public function testDecodeWithoutItemHash()
+    {
+        $obj = new ScalarDummy;
+        $obj->xmlFoo = array(
+            'foo-bar' => array(
+                '@key' => "value",
+                'item' => array("@key" => 'key', "key-val" => 'val')
+            ),
+            'Foo' => array(
+                'Bar' => "Test",
+                '@Type' => 'test'
+            ),
+            'föo_bär' => 'a',
+            "Bar" => array(1,2,3),
+            'a' => 'b',
+        );
+        $expected = array(
+            'foo-bar' => array(
+                '@key' => "value",
+                'key' => array('@key' => 'key', "key-val" => 'val')
+            ),
+            'Foo' => array(
+                'Bar' => "Test",
+                '@Type' => 'test'
+            ),
+            'föo_bär' => 'a',
+            "Bar" => array(1,2,3),
+            'a' => 'b',
+        );
+        $xml = $this->encoder->encode($obj, 'xml');
+        $this->assertEquals($expected, $this->encoder->decode($xml, 'xml'));
+    }
+
     public function testPreventsComplexExternalEntities()
     {
         $oldCwd = getcwd();