diff --git a/doc/03-cli.md b/doc/03-cli.md
index ec2b6dd62..c98ae4c88 100644
--- a/doc/03-cli.md
+++ b/doc/03-cli.md
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ php composer.phar update vendor/*
 * **--lock:** Only updates the lock file hash to suppress warning about the
   lock file being out of date.
 * **--with-dependencies:** Add also all dependencies of whitelisted packages to the whitelist.
+* **--root-reqs:** Restricts the update to your first degree dependencies.
 * **--prefer-stable:** Prefer stable versions of dependencies.
 * **--prefer-lowest:** Prefer lowest versions of dependencies. Useful for testing minimal
   versions of requirements, generally used with `--prefer-stable`.
diff --git a/src/Composer/Command/UpdateCommand.php b/src/Composer/Command/UpdateCommand.php
index b42ebd2f2..40ffc2fcb 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Command/UpdateCommand.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Command/UpdateCommand.php
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ class UpdateCommand extends BaseCommand
                 new InputOption('prefer-stable', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Prefer stable versions of dependencies.'),
                 new InputOption('prefer-lowest', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Prefer lowest versions of dependencies.'),
                 new InputOption('interactive', 'i', InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Interactive interface with autocompletion to select the packages to update.'),
-                new InputOption('root-require', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Only update dependencies that are listed in the root package\'s composer.json file.'),
+                new InputOption('root-reqs', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Restricts the update to your first degree dependencies.'),
             ))
             ->setHelp(<<<EOT
 The <info>update</info> command reads the composer.json file from the
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ EOT
             $packages = $this->getPackagesInteractively($io, $input, $output, $composer, $packages);
         }
 
-        if ($input->getOption('root-require')) {
+        if ($input->getOption('root-reqs')) {
             $require = array_keys($composer->getPackage()->getRequires());
             if (!$input->getOption('no-dev')) {
                 $requireDev = array_keys($composer->getPackage()->getDevRequires());