diff --git a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/StringUtils.java b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/StringUtils.java
index 6d470ae88e8..112c14450cf 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/StringUtils.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/StringUtils.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2015 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2016 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ import java.util.TimeZone;
  * @author Rick Evans
  * @author Arjen Poutsma
  * @author Sam Brannen
+ * @author Brian Clozel
  * @since 16 April 2001
  */
 public abstract class StringUtils {
@@ -714,7 +715,7 @@ public abstract class StringUtils {
 	private static void validateLocalePart(String localePart) {
 		for (int i = 0; i < localePart.length(); i++) {
 			char ch = localePart.charAt(i);
-			if (ch != '_' && ch != ' ' && !Character.isLetterOrDigit(ch)) {
+			if (ch != ' ' && ch != '_' && ch != '#' && !Character.isLetterOrDigit(ch)) {
 				throw new IllegalArgumentException(
 						"Locale part \"" + localePart + "\" contains invalid characters");
 			}
diff --git a/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/util/StringUtilsTests.java b/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/util/StringUtilsTests.java
index 22e979e455a..21cc7374963 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/util/StringUtilsTests.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/util/StringUtilsTests.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2015 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2016 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -627,8 +627,7 @@ public class StringUtilsTests {
 		assertEquals("Multi-valued variant portion of the Locale not extracted correctly.", variant, locale.getVariant());
 	}
 
-	// SPR-3671
-	@Test
+	@Test  // SPR-3671
 	public void testParseLocaleWithMultiValuedVariant() throws Exception {
 		final String variant = "proper_northern";
 		final String localeString = "en_GB_" + variant;
@@ -636,8 +635,7 @@ public class StringUtilsTests {
 		assertEquals("Multi-valued variant portion of the Locale not extracted correctly.", variant, locale.getVariant());
 	}
 
-	// SPR-3671
-	@Test
+	@Test  // SPR-3671
 	public void testParseLocaleWithMultiValuedVariantUsingSpacesAsSeparators() throws Exception {
 		final String variant = "proper northern";
 		final String localeString = "en GB " + variant;
@@ -645,8 +643,7 @@ public class StringUtilsTests {
 		assertEquals("Multi-valued variant portion of the Locale not extracted correctly.", variant, locale.getVariant());
 	}
 
-	// SPR-3671
-	@Test
+	@Test  // SPR-3671
 	public void testParseLocaleWithMultiValuedVariantUsingMixtureOfUnderscoresAndSpacesAsSeparators() throws Exception {
 		final String variant = "proper northern";
 		final String localeString = "en_GB_" + variant;
@@ -654,8 +651,7 @@ public class StringUtilsTests {
 		assertEquals("Multi-valued variant portion of the Locale not extracted correctly.", variant, locale.getVariant());
 	}
 
-	// SPR-3671
-	@Test
+	@Test  // SPR-3671
 	public void testParseLocaleWithMultiValuedVariantUsingSpacesAsSeparatorsWithLotsOfLeadingWhitespace() throws Exception {
 		final String variant = "proper northern";
 		final String localeString = "en GB            " + variant; // lots of whitespace
@@ -663,8 +659,7 @@ public class StringUtilsTests {
 		assertEquals("Multi-valued variant portion of the Locale not extracted correctly.", variant, locale.getVariant());
 	}
 
-	// SPR-3671
-	@Test
+	@Test  // SPR-3671
 	public void testParseLocaleWithMultiValuedVariantUsingUnderscoresAsSeparatorsWithLotsOfLeadingWhitespace() throws Exception {
 		final String variant = "proper_northern";
 		final String localeString = "en_GB_____" + variant; // lots of underscores
@@ -672,8 +667,7 @@ public class StringUtilsTests {
 		assertEquals("Multi-valued variant portion of the Locale not extracted correctly.", variant, locale.getVariant());
 	}
 
-	// SPR-7779
-	@Test
+	@Test  // SPR-7779
 	public void testParseLocaleWithInvalidCharacters() {
 		try {
 			StringUtils.parseLocaleString("%0D%0AContent-length:30%0D%0A%0D%0A%3Cscript%3Ealert%28123%29%3C/script%3E");
@@ -684,15 +678,13 @@ public class StringUtilsTests {
 		}
 	}
 
-	// SPR-9420
-	@Test
+	@Test  // SPR-9420
 	public void testParseLocaleWithSameLowercaseTokenForLanguageAndCountry() {
 		assertEquals("tr_TR", StringUtils.parseLocaleString("tr_tr").toString());
 		assertEquals("bg_BG_vnt", StringUtils.parseLocaleString("bg_bg_vnt").toString());
 	}
 
-	// SPR-11806
-	@Test
+	@Test  // SPR-11806
 	public void testParseLocaleWithVariantContainingCountryCode() {
 		String variant = "GBtest";
 		String localeString = "en_GB_" + variant;
@@ -700,4 +692,9 @@ public class StringUtilsTests {
 		assertEquals("Variant containing country code not extracted correctly", variant, locale.getVariant());
 	}
 
+	@Test  // SPR-14718
+	public void testParseJava7Variant() {
+		assertEquals("sr_#LATN", StringUtils.parseLocaleString("sr_#LATN").toString());
+	}
+
 }