diff --git a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/annotation/AnnotatedElementUtils.java b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/annotation/AnnotatedElementUtils.java
index a58e632c9c9..c4bdb1c7821 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/annotation/AnnotatedElementUtils.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/annotation/AnnotatedElementUtils.java
@@ -1226,7 +1226,7 @@ public abstract class AnnotatedElementUtils {
 		if (AnnotationUtils.isInJavaLangAnnotationPackage(currentAnnotationType)) {
 			return false;
 		}
-		if (currentAnnotationType == Nullable.class || currentAnnotationType.getName().startsWith("java")) {
+		if (AnnotationUtils.hasPlainJavaAnnotationsOnly(currentAnnotationType)) {
 			// @Nullable and standard Java annotations are only meant to have standard Java meta-annotations
 			// -> not worth searching otherwise.
 			return ((annotationType != null && annotationType.getName().startsWith("java")) ||
diff --git a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/annotation/AnnotationUtils.java b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/annotation/AnnotationUtils.java
index 8d189586885..ab0074954f3 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/annotation/AnnotationUtils.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/annotation/AnnotationUtils.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import java.lang.reflect.AnnotatedElement;
 import java.lang.reflect.Array;
 import java.lang.reflect.InvocationHandler;
 import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
+import java.lang.reflect.Member;
 import java.lang.reflect.Method;
 import java.lang.reflect.Modifier;
 import java.lang.reflect.Proxy;
@@ -918,6 +919,29 @@ public abstract class AnnotationUtils {
 		return metaPresent;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Determine if the {@link Annotation} with the supplied name is defined in the
+	 * {@code java.lang.annotation} or {@code org.springframework.lang} package.
+	 * @param annotatedElement the potential annotation type to check
+	 * @return {@code true} if the annotation is in the {@code java.lang.annotation}
+	 * or {@code org.springframework.lang} package
+	 * @since 5.1
+	 */
+	static boolean hasPlainJavaAnnotationsOnly(@Nullable Object annotatedElement) {
+		Class<?> clazz;
+		if (annotatedElement instanceof Class) {
+			clazz = (Class<?>) annotatedElement;
+		}
+		else if (annotatedElement instanceof Member) {
+			clazz = ((Member) annotatedElement).getDeclaringClass();
+		}
+		else {
+			return false;
+		}
+		String name = clazz.getName();
+		return (name.startsWith("java") || name.startsWith("org.springframework.lang."));
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Determine if the supplied {@link Annotation} is defined in the core JDK
 	 * {@code java.lang.annotation} package.
@@ -1509,7 +1533,7 @@ public abstract class AnnotationUtils {
 
 	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
 	static <A extends Annotation> A synthesizeAnnotation(A annotation, @Nullable Object annotatedElement) {
-		if (annotation instanceof SynthesizedAnnotation) {
+		if (annotation instanceof SynthesizedAnnotation || hasPlainJavaAnnotationsOnly(annotatedElement)) {
 			return annotation;
 		}
 
@@ -1585,7 +1609,7 @@ public abstract class AnnotationUtils {
 	 * @see #synthesizeAnnotation(Annotation, AnnotatedElement)
 	 */
 	public static <A extends Annotation> A synthesizeAnnotation(Class<A> annotationType) {
-		return synthesizeAnnotation(Collections.<String, Object> emptyMap(), annotationType, null);
+		return synthesizeAnnotation(Collections.emptyMap(), annotationType, null);
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -1604,8 +1628,10 @@ public abstract class AnnotationUtils {
 	 * @see #synthesizeAnnotation(Annotation, AnnotatedElement)
 	 * @see #synthesizeAnnotation(Map, Class, AnnotatedElement)
 	 */
-	static Annotation[] synthesizeAnnotationArray(
-			Annotation[] annotations, @Nullable Object annotatedElement) {
+	static Annotation[] synthesizeAnnotationArray(Annotation[] annotations, @Nullable Object annotatedElement) {
+		if (hasPlainJavaAnnotationsOnly(annotatedElement)) {
+			return annotations;
+		}
 
 		Annotation[] synthesized = (Annotation[]) Array.newInstance(
 				annotations.getClass().getComponentType(), annotations.length);
@@ -1634,7 +1660,9 @@ public abstract class AnnotationUtils {
 	 */
 	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
 	@Nullable
-	static <A extends Annotation> A[] synthesizeAnnotationArray(@Nullable Map<String, Object>[] maps, Class<A> annotationType) {
+	static <A extends Annotation> A[] synthesizeAnnotationArray(
+			@Nullable Map<String, Object>[] maps, Class<A> annotationType) {
+
 		if (maps == null) {
 			return null;
 		}
@@ -1716,6 +1744,10 @@ public abstract class AnnotationUtils {
 	 */
 	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
 	private static boolean isSynthesizable(Class<? extends Annotation> annotationType) {
+		if (hasPlainJavaAnnotationsOnly(annotationType)) {
+			return false;
+		}
+
 		Boolean synthesizable = synthesizableCache.get(annotationType);
 		if (synthesizable != null) {
 			return synthesizable;
@@ -1764,7 +1796,7 @@ public abstract class AnnotationUtils {
 	 */
 	static List<String> getAttributeAliasNames(Method attribute) {
 		AliasDescriptor descriptor = AliasDescriptor.from(attribute);
-		return (descriptor != null ? descriptor.getAttributeAliasNames() : Collections.<String> emptyList());
+		return (descriptor != null ? descriptor.getAttributeAliasNames() : Collections.emptyList());
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/type/classreading/AnnotationAttributesReadingVisitor.java b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/type/classreading/AnnotationAttributesReadingVisitor.java
index e79d19145d5..1e8561afbb0 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/type/classreading/AnnotationAttributesReadingVisitor.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/type/classreading/AnnotationAttributesReadingVisitor.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2017 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2018 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.
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ final class AnnotationAttributesReadingVisitor extends RecursiveAnnotationAttrib
 	public void visitEnd() {
 		super.visitEnd();
 
-		Class<?> annotationClass = this.attributes.annotationType();
+		Class<? extends Annotation> annotationClass = this.attributes.annotationType();
 		if (annotationClass != null) {
 			List<AnnotationAttributes> attributeList = this.attributesMap.get(this.annotationType);
 			if (attributeList == null) {
@@ -73,20 +73,22 @@ final class AnnotationAttributesReadingVisitor extends RecursiveAnnotationAttrib
 			else {
 				attributeList.add(0, this.attributes);
 			}
-			Set<Annotation> visited = new LinkedHashSet<>();
-			Annotation[] metaAnnotations = AnnotationUtils.getAnnotations(annotationClass);
-			if (!ObjectUtils.isEmpty(metaAnnotations)) {
-				for (Annotation metaAnnotation : metaAnnotations) {
-					if (!AnnotationUtils.isInJavaLangAnnotationPackage(metaAnnotation)) {
-						recursivelyCollectMetaAnnotations(visited, metaAnnotation);
+			if (!AnnotationUtils.isInJavaLangAnnotationPackage(annotationClass.getName())) {
+				Set<Annotation> visited = new LinkedHashSet<>();
+				Annotation[] metaAnnotations = AnnotationUtils.getAnnotations(annotationClass);
+				if (!ObjectUtils.isEmpty(metaAnnotations)) {
+					for (Annotation metaAnnotation : metaAnnotations) {
+						if (!AnnotationUtils.isInJavaLangAnnotationPackage(metaAnnotation)) {
+							recursivelyCollectMetaAnnotations(visited, metaAnnotation);
+						}
 					}
 				}
+				Set<String> metaAnnotationTypeNames = new LinkedHashSet<>(visited.size());
+				for (Annotation ann : visited) {
+					metaAnnotationTypeNames.add(ann.annotationType().getName());
+				}
+				this.metaAnnotationMap.put(annotationClass.getName(), metaAnnotationTypeNames);
 			}
-			Set<String> metaAnnotationTypeNames = new LinkedHashSet<>(visited.size());
-			for (Annotation ann : visited) {
-				metaAnnotationTypeNames.add(ann.annotationType().getName());
-			}
-			this.metaAnnotationMap.put(annotationClass.getName(), metaAnnotationTypeNames);
 		}
 	}