diff --git a/src/phpDocumentor/Reflection/DocBlock/LongDescription.php b/src/phpDocumentor/Reflection/DocBlock/LongDescription.php
index 37131dc..7fb8fa7 100644
--- a/src/phpDocumentor/Reflection/DocBlock/LongDescription.php
+++ b/src/phpDocumentor/Reflection/DocBlock/LongDescription.php
@@ -24,7 +24,10 @@ class LongDescription implements \Reflector
     /** @var string */
     protected $contents = '';
 
-    /** @var Tag[] */
+    /** @var array The contents, as an array of strings and Tag objects. */
+    protected $parsedContents = null;
+
+    /** @var \phpDocumentor\Reflection\DocBlock\Tags[] */
     protected $tags = array();
 
     /**
@@ -35,13 +38,6 @@ class LongDescription implements \Reflector
      */
     public function __construct($content)
     {
-        if (preg_match('/\{\@(.+?)\}/u', $content, $matches)) {
-            array_shift($matches);
-            foreach ($matches as $tag) {
-                $this->tags[] = Tag::createInstance('@' . $tag);
-            }
-        }
-
         $this->contents = trim($content);
     }
 
@@ -55,6 +51,28 @@ class LongDescription implements \Reflector
         return $this->contents;
     }
 
+    /*
+     * Returns the parsed text of this description.
+     *
+     * @return array An array of strings and tag objects, in the order they
+     * occur within the description.
+     */
+    public function getParsedContents()
+    {
+        if (null === $this->parsedContents) {
+            $this->parsedContents = preg_split(
+                '/\{(\@.*?)\}/uS', $this->contents,
+                null, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE
+            );
+            for ($i=1, $l = count($this->parsedContents); $i<$l; $i += 2) {
+                $this->parsedContents[$i] = Tag::createInstance(
+                    $this->parsedContents[$i]
+                );
+            }
+        }
+        return $this->parsedContents;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Return a formatted variant of the Long Description using MarkDown.
      *
@@ -86,16 +104,6 @@ class LongDescription implements \Reflector
         return trim($result);
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Returns a list of tags mentioned in the text.
-     *
-     * @return \phpDocumentor\Reflection\DocBlock\Tags[]
-     */
-    public function getTags()
-    {
-        return $this->tags;
-    }
-
     /**
      * Builds a string representation of this object.
      *
diff --git a/src/phpDocumentor/Reflection/DocBlock/Tag.php b/src/phpDocumentor/Reflection/DocBlock/Tag.php
index 89bf708..4ad3620 100644
--- a/src/phpDocumentor/Reflection/DocBlock/Tag.php
+++ b/src/phpDocumentor/Reflection/DocBlock/Tag.php
@@ -24,13 +24,16 @@ class Tag implements \Reflector
     /** @var string Name of the tag */
     protected $tag = '';
 
-    /** @var string content of the tag */
+    /** @var string Content of the tag */
     protected $content = '';
 
-    /** @var string description of the content of this tag */
+    /** @var string Description of the content of this tag */
     protected $description = '';
+    
+    /** @var array The description, as an array of strings and Tag objects. */
+    protected $parsedDescription = null;
 
-    /** @var int line number of the tag */
+    /** @var int Line number of the tag */
     protected $line_number = 0;
 
     /** @var \phpDocumentor\Reflection\DocBlock docblock class */
@@ -108,6 +111,21 @@ class Tag implements \Reflector
     {
         return $this->description;
     }
+    
+    /*
+     * Returns the parsed text of this description.
+     * 
+     * @return array An array of strings and tag objects, in the order they
+     * occur within the description.
+     */
+    public function getParsedDescription()
+    {
+        if (null === $this->parsedDescription) {
+            $description = new LongDescription($this->description);
+            $this->parsedDescription = $description->getParsedContents();
+        }
+        return $this->parsedDescription;
+    }
 
     /**
      * Set the tag line number