diff --git a/include/boost/interprocess/xsi_key.hpp b/include/boost/interprocess/xsi_key.hpp
index 084411ed..2dbfa66f 100644
--- a/include/boost/interprocess/xsi_key.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/interprocess/xsi_key.hpp
@@ -46,7 +46,8 @@ namespace boost {
 namespace interprocess {
 
 //!A class that wraps XSI (System V) key_t type.
-//!This type calculates key_t from path and id using ftok
+//!This type calculates key_t from path and id using ftok,
+//!sets key to a specified value,
 //!or sets key to IPC_PRIVATE using the default constructor.
 class xsi_key
 {
@@ -58,6 +59,11 @@ class xsi_key
       : m_key(IPC_PRIVATE)
    {}
 
+   //!Creates a new XSI key using a specified value. Constructor is explicit to avoid ambiguity with shmid.
+   explicit xsi_key(key_t key)
+      : m_key(key)
+   {}
+
    //!Creates a new XSI  shared memory with a key obtained from a call to ftok (with path
    //!"path" and id "id"), of size "size" and permissions "perm".
    //!If the shared memory previously exists, throws an error.