diff --git a/packages/enzyme/src/selectors.js b/packages/enzyme/src/selectors.js
index 71adefc68..7967380de 100644
--- a/packages/enzyme/src/selectors.js
+++ b/packages/enzyme/src/selectors.js
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ function matchDirectChild(nodes, predicate) {
 function matchDescendant(nodes, predicate) {
   return uniqueReduce(
     (matches, node) => matches.concat(treeFilter(node, predicate)),
-    nodes,
+    flatten(nodes.map(childrenOfNode)),
   );
 }