diff --git a/spring-integration-xml/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/xml/router/XPathRouter.java b/spring-integration-xml/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/xml/router/XPathRouter.java
index 234237f75e..5c3a7ea09a 100644
--- a/spring-integration-xml/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/xml/router/XPathRouter.java
+++ b/spring-integration-xml/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/xml/router/XPathRouter.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 package org.springframework.integration.xml.router;
 
+import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -45,7 +46,8 @@ public class XPathRouter extends AbstractMessageRouter {
 	private final XPathExpression xPathExpression;
 
 	private volatile XmlPayloadConverter converter = new DefaultXmlPayloadConverter();
-
+	
+	private volatile boolean evaluateAsNode = true;
 
 	/**
 	 * Create a router that uses an XPath expression. The expression may
@@ -95,6 +97,9 @@ public class XPathRouter extends AbstractMessageRouter {
 		this.xPathExpression = expression;
 	}
 
+	public void setEvaluateAsNode(boolean evaluateAsNode) {
+		this.evaluateAsNode = evaluateAsNode;
+	}
 
 	/**
 	 * Specify the Converter to use when converting payloads prior to XPath evaluation.
@@ -110,9 +115,14 @@ public class XPathRouter extends AbstractMessageRouter {
 
 	@Override
 	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
-	public List<Object> getChannelIdentifiers(Message<?> message) {
+	protected List<Object> getChannelIdentifiers(Message<?> message) {
 		Node node = this.converter.convertToNode(message.getPayload());
-		return this.xPathExpression.evaluate(node, this.nodeMapper);
+		if (this.evaluateAsNode){
+			return this.xPathExpression.evaluate(node, this.nodeMapper);
+		}
+		else {
+			return Collections.singletonList((Object)this.xPathExpression.evaluateAsString(node));
+		}
 	}
 
 
diff --git a/spring-integration-xml/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/xml/router/XPathRouterTests.java b/spring-integration-xml/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/xml/router/XPathRouterTests.java
index 3ed037057c..3ee46b15a7 100644
--- a/spring-integration-xml/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/xml/router/XPathRouterTests.java
+++ b/spring-integration-xml/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/xml/router/XPathRouterTests.java
@@ -45,6 +45,30 @@ public class XPathRouterTests {
 		assertEquals("Wrong number of channels returned", 1, channelNames.length);
 		assertEquals("Wrong channel name", "one", channelNames[0]);
 	}
+	
+	@Test
+	@SuppressWarnings({ "unchecked", "rawtypes" })
+	public void simpleSingleAttributeAsString() throws Exception {
+		Document doc = XmlTestUtil.getDocumentForString("<doc type=\"one\" />");
+		XPathExpression expression = XPathExpressionFactory.createXPathExpression("/doc/@type");
+		XPathRouter router = new XPathRouter(expression);
+		router.setEvaluateAsNode(false);
+		Object[] channelNames = router.getChannelIdentifiers(new GenericMessage(doc)).toArray();
+		assertEquals("Wrong number of channels returned", 1, channelNames.length);
+		assertEquals("Wrong channel name", "one", channelNames[0]);
+	}
+	
+	@Test
+	@SuppressWarnings({ "unchecked", "rawtypes" })
+	public void simpleRootNode() throws Exception {	
+		Document doc = XmlTestUtil.getDocumentForString("<doc><foo>oleg</foo><bar>bang</bar></doc>");
+		XPathExpression expression = XPathExpressionFactory.createXPathExpression("name(./node())");
+		XPathRouter router = new XPathRouter(expression);
+		router.setEvaluateAsNode(false);
+		Object[] channelNames = router.getChannelIdentifiers(new GenericMessage(doc)).toArray();
+		assertEquals("Wrong number of channels returned", 1, channelNames.length);
+		assertEquals("Wrong channel name", "doc", channelNames[0]);
+	}
 
 	@Test
 	@SuppressWarnings({ "unchecked", "rawtypes" })
@@ -57,16 +81,24 @@ public class XPathRouterTests {
 		assertEquals("Wrong channel name", "bOne", channelNames[0]);
 		assertEquals("Wrong channel name", "bTwo", channelNames[1]);
 	}
+	
 
 	@Test
 	@SuppressWarnings({ "unchecked", "rawtypes" })
+	/*
+	 * Will return only one (the first node text in the collection), since 
+	 * the evaluation return type use is String (not NODESET)
+	 * This test is just for sanity and the reminder that setting 'evaluateAsNode'
+	 * to 'false' would still result in no exception but result will most likely be 
+	 * not what is expected.
+	 */
 	public void multipleNodeValuesAsString() throws Exception {
 		XPathExpression expression = XPathExpressionFactory.createXPathExpression("/doc/book");
 		XPathRouter router = new XPathRouter(expression);
+		router.setEvaluateAsNode(false);
 		Object[] channelNames = router.getChannelIdentifiers(new GenericMessage("<doc type=\"one\"><book>bOne</book><book>bTwo</book></doc>")).toArray();
-		assertEquals("Wrong number of channels returned", 2, channelNames.length);
+		assertEquals("Wrong number of channels returned", 1, channelNames.length);
 		assertEquals("Wrong channel name", "bOne", channelNames[0]);
-		assertEquals("Wrong channel name", "bTwo", channelNames[1]);
 	}
 
 	@Test(expected = MessagingException.class)