diff --git a/docs/docs/08.1-more-about-refs.md b/docs/docs/08.1-more-about-refs.md
index b67d569fd29..d178adb4e6f 100644
--- a/docs/docs/08.1-more-about-refs.md
+++ b/docs/docs/08.1-more-about-refs.md
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ After building your component, you may find yourself wanting to "reach out" and
 
 Let's look at how to get a ref, and then dive into a complete example.
 
+> Important:
+>
+> `ref` attributes do **not work** on [stateless functional components](/react/docs/reusable-components.html#stateless-functions)
+
 ## The ref returned from ReactDOM.render
 
 Not to be confused with the `render()` function that you define on your component (and which returns a virtual DOM element), [ReactDOM.render()](/react/docs/top-level-api.html#reactdom.render) will return a reference to your component's **backing instance** (or `null` for [stateless components](/react/docs/reusable-components.html#stateless-functions)).