diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 2fe4be6ff19..23f298bd799 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -585,6 +585,7 @@ Release 0.21.0 - Unreleased
    HBASE-2234  HBASE-2234  Roll Hlog if any datanode in the write pipeline dies
                (Nicolas Spiegelberg via Stack)
    HBASE-2340  Add end-to-end test of sync/flush (Forward-port from branch)
+   HBASE-2555  Get rid of HColumnDescriptor.MAPFILE_INDEX_INTERVAL
 
 
   NEW FEATURES
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HColumnDescriptor.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HColumnDescriptor.java
index 2a0be342867..6269e3e5798 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HColumnDescriptor.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HColumnDescriptor.java
@@ -75,8 +75,6 @@ public class HColumnDescriptor implements WritableComparable<HColumnDescriptor>
   public static final String TTL = "TTL";
   public static final String BLOOMFILTER = "BLOOMFILTER";
   public static final String FOREVER = "FOREVER";
-  public static final String MAPFILE_INDEX_INTERVAL =
-      "MAPFILE_INDEX_INTERVAL";
   public static final String REPLICATION_SCOPE = "REPLICATION_SCOPE";
 
   /**
@@ -482,14 +480,6 @@ public class HColumnDescriptor implements WritableComparable<HColumnDescriptor>
     setValue(BLOOMFILTER, Boolean.toString(onOff));
   }
 
-  /**
-   * @param interval The number of entries that are added to the store MapFile before
-   * an index entry is added.
-   */
-  public void setMapFileIndexInterval(int interval) {
-    setValue(MAPFILE_INDEX_INTERVAL, Integer.toString(interval));
-  }
-
    /**
     * @return the scope tag
     */
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/UnmodifyableHColumnDescriptor.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/UnmodifyableHColumnDescriptor.java
index 0ebd60e6f28..d99f02a1953 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/UnmodifyableHColumnDescriptor.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/UnmodifyableHColumnDescriptor.java
@@ -90,12 +90,4 @@ public class UnmodifyableHColumnDescriptor extends HColumnDescriptor {
   public void setCompressionType(Compression.Algorithm type) {
     throw new UnsupportedOperationException("HColumnDescriptor is read-only");
   }
-
-  /**
-   * @see org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HColumnDescriptor#setMapFileIndexInterval(int)
-   */
-  @Override
-  public void setMapFileIndexInterval(int interval) {
-    throw new UnsupportedOperationException("HTableDescriptor is read-only");
-  }
 }
\ No newline at end of file