EDIT

/**

 * returns true if the given $featureNode or any of its subordinate nodes contains at least one

 * DescriptionElement

 * @param unknown_type $featureNode A heature node as produced by the function _mergeFeatureTreeDescriptions()

 */

function hasFeatureNodeDescriptionElements($featureNode) {

  if(is_array($featureNode->descriptionElements) && count($featureNode->descriptionElements) > 0) {

    return true;

  } else if(is_array($featureNode->children)) {

    foreach ($featureNode->children as $child) {

      if(hasFeatureNodeDescriptionElements($child)){

        return true;

      }

  }

  return false;

}

}