diff --git a/maven-plugin-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/descriptor/PluginDescriptor.java b/maven-plugin-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/descriptor/PluginDescriptor.java
index 85e289bfb5f5..88a2481f5300 100644
--- a/maven-plugin-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/descriptor/PluginDescriptor.java
+++ b/maven-plugin-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/descriptor/PluginDescriptor.java
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ public class PluginDescriptor extends ComponentSetDescriptor implements Cloneabl
 
     private String description;
 
-    // MNG-4840
+    // MNG-4840: set from plugin's pom.xml, not plugin.xml
     private String requiredMavenVersion;
 
     private Plugin plugin;
@@ -297,17 +297,19 @@ public String getDescription() {
     }
 
     /**
-     * Set required Maven version.
+     * Set required Maven version, as defined in plugin's pom.xml (not plugin.xml).
      *
      * @param requiredMavenVersion Maven version required by the plugin
      * @since 3.0.2
      */
+    // used by maven-core's org.apache.maven.plugin.internal.DefaultMavenPluginManager#getPluginDescriptor(...)
+    // but NOT PluginDescriptorBuilder
     public void setRequiredMavenVersion(String requiredMavenVersion) {
         this.requiredMavenVersion = requiredMavenVersion;
     }
 
     /**
-     * Get required Maven version.
+     * Get required Maven version, as defined in plugin's pom.xml (not plugin.xml).
      *
      * @return the Maven version required by the plugin
      * @since 3.0.2
diff --git a/maven-plugin-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/descriptor/PluginDescriptorBuilder.java b/maven-plugin-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/descriptor/PluginDescriptorBuilder.java
index 6ef3e0f26649..5d603e769b9e 100644
--- a/maven-plugin-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/descriptor/PluginDescriptorBuilder.java
+++ b/maven-plugin-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/descriptor/PluginDescriptorBuilder.java
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.xml.pull.XmlPullParserException;
 
 /**
+ * Build plugin descriptor object from {@code plugin.xml}.
+ *
  * @author Jason van Zyl
  */
 public class PluginDescriptorBuilder {
diff --git a/maven-plugin-api/src/main/mdo/plugin.mdo b/maven-plugin-api/src/main/mdo/plugin.mdo
index 4ccc632b3d6b..5232e6a4aea2 100644
--- a/maven-plugin-api/src/main/mdo/plugin.mdo
+++ b/maven-plugin-api/src/main/mdo/plugin.mdo
@@ -92,15 +92,6 @@ under the License.
           <type>boolean</type>
           <defaultValue>true</defaultValue>
         </field>
-        <field>
-          <name>requiredMavenVersion</name>
-          <version>1.0.0</version>
-          <description>
-            Minimum Maven version required to use the plugin.
-            @since Maven 3.0.2
-          </description>
-          <type>String</type>
-        </field>
         <field xdoc.separator="blank">
           <name>mojos</name>
           <version>1.0.0</version>