diff --git a/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/PublicSuffixMatcher.java b/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/PublicSuffixMatcher.java
index 1793377fe..13e7ca5d8 100644
--- a/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/PublicSuffixMatcher.java
+++ b/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/PublicSuffixMatcher.java
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ public final class PublicSuffixMatcher {
             result = segment;
             segment = nextSegment;
         }
-        return normalized;
+        return result;
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/ssl/TestDefaultHostnameVerifier.java b/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/ssl/TestDefaultHostnameVerifier.java
index 744c3ca4e..b4dfbb907 100644
--- a/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/ssl/TestDefaultHostnameVerifier.java
+++ b/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/ssl/TestDefaultHostnameVerifier.java
@@ -275,6 +275,18 @@ public class TestDefaultHostnameVerifier {
         Assert.assertTrue(DefaultHostnameVerifier.matchIdentityStrict("mail.a.b.c.com", "m*.a.b.c.com"));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testHTTPCLIENT_1997() {
+        Assert.assertTrue(DefaultHostnameVerifier.matchIdentity(
+                "service.apps.dev.b.cloud.a", "*.apps.dev.b.cloud.a"));
+        Assert.assertTrue(DefaultHostnameVerifier.matchIdentityStrict(
+                "service.apps.dev.b.cloud.a", "*.apps.dev.b.cloud.a"));
+        Assert.assertTrue(DefaultHostnameVerifier.matchIdentity(
+                "service.apps.dev.b.cloud.a", "*.apps.dev.b.cloud.a", publicSuffixMatcher));
+        Assert.assertTrue(DefaultHostnameVerifier.matchIdentityStrict(
+                "service.apps.dev.b.cloud.a", "*.apps.dev.b.cloud.a", publicSuffixMatcher));
+    }
+
     @Test // Check compressed IPv6 hostname matching
     public void testHTTPCLIENT_1316() throws Exception{
         final String host1 = "2001:0db8:aaaa:bbbb:cccc:0:0:0001";
diff --git a/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/TestPublicSuffixMatcher.java b/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/TestPublicSuffixMatcher.java
index cb986c0b8..67b216951 100644
--- a/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/TestPublicSuffixMatcher.java
+++ b/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/TestPublicSuffixMatcher.java
@@ -69,7 +69,9 @@ public class TestPublicSuffixMatcher {
         Assert.assertEquals("blah.blah.tokyo.jp", matcher.getDomainRoot("blah.blah.tokyo.jp"));
         Assert.assertEquals("blah.ac.jp", matcher.getDomainRoot("blah.blah.ac.jp"));
         Assert.assertEquals("garbage", matcher.getDomainRoot("garbage"));
-        Assert.assertEquals("garbage.garbage", matcher.getDomainRoot("garbage.garbage"));
+        Assert.assertEquals("garbage", matcher.getDomainRoot("garbage.garbage"));
+        Assert.assertEquals("garbage", matcher.getDomainRoot("*.garbage.garbage"));
+        Assert.assertEquals("garbage", matcher.getDomainRoot("*.garbage.garbage.garbage"));
     }
 
     @Test