diff --git a/t/t3101-ls-tree-dirname.sh b/t/t3101-ls-tree-dirname.sh
index 4dd7d12bac62eae23516686c0ece0edf037f0317..51cb4a30f571772399697bc073153b7e956853bf 100755
--- a/t/t3101-ls-tree-dirname.sh
+++ b/t/t3101-ls-tree-dirname.sh
@@ -135,4 +135,10 @@ test_expect_success \
 EOF
      test_output'
 
+test_expect_success 'ls-tree filter is leading path match' '
+	git ls-tree $tree pa path3/a >current &&
+	>expected &&
+	test_output
+'
+
 test_done
diff --git a/tree.c b/tree.c
index 03e782a9cabc0a12ed5baec0ef59c99f19dbc843..d82a047e5550702bf6e1fd5a8930897124e7a96f 100644
--- a/tree.c
+++ b/tree.c
@@ -60,8 +60,12 @@ static int match_tree_entry(const char *base, int baselen, const char *path, uns
 			/* If it doesn't match, move along... */
 			if (strncmp(base, match, matchlen))
 				continue;
-			/* The base is a subdirectory of a path which was specified. */
-			return 1;
+			/* pathspecs match only at the directory boundaries */
+			if (!matchlen ||
+			    base[matchlen] == '/' ||
+			    match[matchlen - 1] == '/')
+				return 1;
+			continue;
 		}
 
 		/* Does the base match? */