There are several points here that may relate to the same problem.

When browsing for WMS layers to add, the abstract information is not being read
in by WMS Browser.

Secondly, when the layer is added to the map, and the Layer Information is
brought up from the Legend Template, the abstract is also missing.

I looked into the LayerInfo template, which reads a wmsphp/layerinfo_body.phtml
template that this info is coming from the session map file.  However, the
abstract information is missing from the wms layers in session mapfile.  So I
can only assume that whatever mechanism adds the wms layers to the map, is
skipping the abstract when reading the getCapabilities??

I tested this using CVS, but one that is about a few weeks old.