diff --git a/contrib/completions/bash/kubectl b/contrib/completions/bash/kubectl
index f7bc2ac465b..5bf6c2c46e6 100644
--- a/contrib/completions/bash/kubectl
+++ b/contrib/completions/bash/kubectl
@@ -273,6 +273,15 @@ _kubectl_describe()
 
     must_have_one_flag=()
     must_have_one_noun=()
+    must_have_one_noun+=("limitrange")
+    must_have_one_noun+=("minion")
+    must_have_one_noun+=("node")
+    must_have_one_noun+=("persistentvolume")
+    must_have_one_noun+=("persistentvolumeclaim")
+    must_have_one_noun+=("pod")
+    must_have_one_noun+=("replicationcontroller")
+    must_have_one_noun+=("resourcequota")
+    must_have_one_noun+=("service")
 }
 
 _kubectl_create()
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/describe.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/describe.go
index fcb2f24714e..0b19931332c 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/describe.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/describe.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 
+	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/kubectl"
 	cmdutil "github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/kubectl/resource"
 )
@@ -38,6 +39,7 @@ given resource.`,
 			err := RunDescribe(f, out, cmd, args)
 			cmdutil.CheckErr(err)
 		},
+		ValidArgs: kubectl.DescribableResources(),
 	}
 	return cmd
 }
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/describe.go b/pkg/kubectl/describe.go
index b613b7776ab..60fd22adb58 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/describe.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/describe.go
@@ -58,26 +58,38 @@ func (e ErrNoDescriber) Error() string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf("no describer has been defined for %v", e.Types)
 }
 
+func describerMap(c *client.Client) map[string]Describer {
+	m := map[string]Describer{
+		"Pod": &PodDescriber{c},
+		"ReplicationController": &ReplicationControllerDescriber{c},
+		"Service":               &ServiceDescriber{c},
+		"Minion":                &NodeDescriber{c},
+		"Node":                  &NodeDescriber{c},
+		"LimitRange":            &LimitRangeDescriber{c},
+		"ResourceQuota":         &ResourceQuotaDescriber{c},
+		"PersistentVolume":      &PersistentVolumeDescriber{c},
+		"PersistentVolumeClaim": &PersistentVolumeClaimDescriber{c},
+	}
+	return m
+}
+
+// List of all resource types we can describe
+func DescribableResources() []string {
+	keys := make([]string, 0)
+
+	for k := range describerMap(nil) {
+		resource := strings.ToLower(k)
+		keys = append(keys, resource)
+	}
+	return keys
+}
+
 // Describer returns the default describe functions for each of the standard
 // Kubernetes types.
 func DescriberFor(kind string, c *client.Client) (Describer, bool) {
-	switch kind {
-	case "Pod":
-		return &PodDescriber{c}, true
-	case "ReplicationController":
-		return &ReplicationControllerDescriber{c}, true
-	case "Service":
-		return &ServiceDescriber{c}, true
-	case "PersistentVolume":
-		return &PersistentVolumeDescriber{c}, true
-	case "PersistentVolumeClaim":
-		return &PersistentVolumeClaimDescriber{c}, true
-	case "Minion", "Node":
-		return &NodeDescriber{c}, true
-	case "LimitRange":
-		return &LimitRangeDescriber{c}, true
-	case "ResourceQuota":
-		return &ResourceQuotaDescriber{c}, true
+	f, ok := describerMap(c)[kind]
+	if ok {
+		return f, true
 	}
 	return nil, false
 }