diff --git a/externs/polymer-externs.js b/externs/polymer-externs.js
index a45439ae..da5a2317 100644
--- a/externs/polymer-externs.js
+++ b/externs/polymer-externs.js
@@ -158,6 +158,29 @@ Polymer.orderedComputed;
  */
 var PolymerElement = function() {};
 
+/**
+ * The tag name of the cutom element type.
+ * @type {string|undefined}
+ */
+PolymerElement.is;
+/**
+ * The template to stamp when creating this element type.
+ * @type {!HTMLTemplateElement|undefined}
+ */
+PolymerElement.template;
+/**
+ * The properties of the cutom element type.
+ * @type {!PolymerElementProperties|undefined}
+ */
+PolymerElement.properties;
+/**
+ * The observers of this custom element type.
+ * @type {!Array<string>|undefined}
+ */
+PolymerElement.observers;
+/** @type {!PolymerInit|undefined} */
+PolymerElement.generatedFrom;
+
 /**
  * On create callback.
  * @override
diff --git a/lib/mixins/properties-changed.js b/lib/mixins/properties-changed.js
index 22766a31..cc2801d4 100644
--- a/lib/mixins/properties-changed.js
+++ b/lib/mixins/properties-changed.js
@@ -134,6 +134,12 @@ export const PropertiesChanged = dedupingMixin(
       if (!this.hasOwnProperty('__dataAttributes')) {
         this.__dataAttributes = Object.assign({}, this.__dataAttributes);
       }
+      // This check is technically not correct; it's an optimization that
+      // assumes that if a _property_ name is already in the map (note this is
+      // an attr->property map), the property mapped directly to the attribute
+      // and it has already been mapped.  This would fail if
+      // `attributeNameForProperty` were overridden such that this was not the
+      // case.
       let attr = this.__dataAttributes[property];
       if (!attr) {
         attr = this.constructor.attributeNameForProperty(property);
diff --git a/lib/mixins/template-stamp.js b/lib/mixins/template-stamp.js
index 9dafa54f..ee4bc903 100644
--- a/lib/mixins/template-stamp.js
+++ b/lib/mixins/template-stamp.js
@@ -22,6 +22,53 @@ const templateExtensions = {
   'dom-if': true,
   'dom-repeat': true
 };
+
+let placeholderBugDetect = false;
+let placeholderBug = false;
+
+function hasPlaceholderBug() {
+  if (!placeholderBugDetect) {
+    placeholderBugDetect = true;
+    const t = document.createElement('textarea');
+    t.placeholder = 'a';
+    placeholderBug = t.placeholder === t.textContent;
+  }
+  return placeholderBug;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Some browsers have a bug with textarea, where placeholder text is copied as
+ * a textnode child of the textarea.
+ *
+ * If the placeholder is a binding, this can break template stamping in two
+ * ways.
+ *
+ * One issue is that when the `placeholder` attribute is removed when the
+ * binding is processed, the textnode child of the textarea is deleted, and the
+ * template info tries to bind into that node.
+ *
+ * With `legacyOptimizations` in use, when the template is stamped and the
+ * `textarea.textContent` binding is processed, no corresponding node is found
+ * because it was removed during parsing. An exception is generated when this
+ * binding is updated.
+ *
+ * With `legacyOptimizations` not in use, the template is cloned before
+ * processing and this changes the above behavior. The cloned template also has
+ * a value property set to the placeholder and textContent. This prevents the
+ * removal of the textContent when the placeholder attribute is removed.
+ * Therefore the exception does not occur. However, there is an extra
+ * unnecessary binding.
+ *
+ * @param {!Node} node Check node for placeholder bug
+ * @return {void}
+ */
+function fixPlaceholder(node) {
+  if (hasPlaceholderBug() && node.localName === 'textarea' && node.placeholder
+        && node.placeholder === node.textContent) {
+    node.textContent = null;
+  }
+}
+
 function wrapTemplateExtension(node) {
   let is = node.getAttribute('is');
   if (is && templateExtensions[is]) {
@@ -251,6 +298,7 @@ export const TemplateStamp = dedupingMixin(
         // For ShadyDom optimization, indicating there is an insertion point
         templateInfo.hasInsertionPoint = true;
       }
+      fixPlaceholder(element);
       if (element.firstChild) {
         this._parseTemplateChildNodes(element, templateInfo, nodeInfo);
       }
diff --git a/test/unit/property-effects-template.html b/test/unit/property-effects-template.html
index 395a5060..b3c7a07c 100644
--- a/test/unit/property-effects-template.html
+++ b/test/unit/property-effects-template.html
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ subject to an additional IP rights grant found at http://polymer.github.io/PATEN
   <meta charset="utf-8">
   <script src="../../node_modules/@webcomponents/webcomponentsjs/webcomponents-bundle.js"></script>
   <script src="wct-browser-config.js"></script>
-  <script src="wct-browser-config.js"></script>
   <script src="../../node_modules/wct-browser-legacy/browser.js"></script>
   <script type="module" src="../../polymer-element.js"></script>
   <script type="module" src="../../lib/mixins/gesture-event-listeners.js"></script>
@@ -286,9 +285,10 @@ customElements.define(XBinding.is, XBinding);
 </dom-module>
 
 <script type="module">
-import '../../polymer-element.js';
+import {PolymerElement, html} from '../../polymer-element.js';
 import '../../lib/mixins/gesture-event-listeners.js';
 import '../../lib/elements/dom-if.js';
+import {setLegacyOptimizations} from '../../lib/utils/settings.js';
 
 suite('runtime template stamping', function() {
 
@@ -828,6 +828,41 @@ suite('template parsing hooks', () => {
     document.body.removeChild(el);
   });
 });
+
+suite('textarea placeholder bug', function() {
+  class PlaceholderBase extends PolymerElement {
+    static get template() {
+      return html`<textarea id="textarea" placeholder="[[value]]"></textarea>`;
+    }
+    static get properties() {
+      return {value: {type: String}};
+    }
+  }
+  test('placeholder binding does not leak to textContent', function() {
+    customElements.define('placeholder-duplicate', class extends PlaceholderBase {});
+    const el = document.createElement('placeholder-duplicate');
+    document.body.appendChild(el);
+    const textarea = el.$.textarea;
+    el.value = 'before';
+    textarea.value = 'Hello!';
+    el.value = 'after';
+    assert.equal(textarea.value, 'Hello!');
+  });
+  suite('legacyOptimizations', function() {
+    suiteSetup(function() {
+      setLegacyOptimizations(true);
+    });
+    suiteTeardown(function() {
+      setLegacyOptimizations(false);
+    });
+    test('textarea placeholder binding works with legacyOptimizations', function() {
+      customElements.define('placeholder-bug', class extends PlaceholderBase {});
+      const el = document.createElement('placeholder-bug');
+      document.body.appendChild(el);
+      assert.doesNotThrow(() => {el.value = 'bar';});
+    });
+  });
+});
 </script>
 
 </body>