diff --git a/packages/core/src/render3/view_ref.ts b/packages/core/src/render3/view_ref.ts
index 1dbd3211064a8..fa2794621290e 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/render3/view_ref.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/render3/view_ref.ts
@@ -10,10 +10,13 @@ import {ApplicationRef} from '../application_ref';
 import {ChangeDetectorRef as viewEngine_ChangeDetectorRef} from '../change_detection/change_detector_ref';
 import {ViewContainerRef as viewEngine_ViewContainerRef} from '../linker/view_container_ref';
 import {EmbeddedViewRef as viewEngine_EmbeddedViewRef, InternalViewRef as viewEngine_InternalViewRef} from '../linker/view_ref';
+import {assertDefined} from '../util/assert';
 
 import {checkNoChangesInRootView, checkNoChangesInternal, detectChangesInRootView, detectChangesInternal, markViewDirty, storeCleanupFn} from './instructions/shared';
+import {CONTAINER_HEADER_OFFSET} from './interfaces/container';
 import {TElementNode, TNode, TNodeType, TViewNode} from './interfaces/node';
-import {CONTEXT, FLAGS, HOST, LView, LViewFlags, T_HOST} from './interfaces/view';
+import {CONTEXT, FLAGS, HOST, LView, LViewFlags, TView, T_HOST} from './interfaces/view';
+import {assertNodeOfPossibleTypes} from './node_assert';
 import {destroyLView, renderDetachView} from './node_manipulation';
 import {findComponentView, getLViewParent} from './util/view_traversal_utils';
 import {getNativeByTNode, getNativeByTNodeOrNull} from './util/view_utils';
@@ -38,7 +41,7 @@ export class ViewRef<T> implements viewEngine_EmbeddedViewRef<T>, viewEngine_Int
   get rootNodes(): any[] {
     if (this._lView[HOST] == null) {
       const tView = this._lView[T_HOST] as TViewNode;
-      return collectNativeNodes(this._lView, tView, []);
+      return collectNativeNodes(this._lView, tView.child, []);
     }
     return [];
   }
@@ -299,27 +302,39 @@ export class RootViewRef<T> extends ViewRef<T> {
   get context(): T { return null !; }
 }
 
-function collectNativeNodes(lView: LView, parentTNode: TNode, result: any[]): any[] {
-  let tNodeChild = parentTNode.child;
-
-  while (tNodeChild) {
-    const nativeNode = getNativeByTNodeOrNull(tNodeChild, lView);
+function collectNativeNodes(lView: LView, tNode: TNode | null, result: any[]): any[] {
+  while (tNode) {
+    ngDevMode && assertNodeOfPossibleTypes(
+                     tNode, TNodeType.Element, TNodeType.Container, TNodeType.Projection,
+                     TNodeType.ElementContainer);
+    const nativeNode = getNativeByTNodeOrNull(tNode, lView);
     nativeNode && result.push(nativeNode);
-    if (tNodeChild.type === TNodeType.ElementContainer) {
-      collectNativeNodes(lView, tNodeChild, result);
-    } else if (tNodeChild.type === TNodeType.Projection) {
+
+    if (tNode.type === TNodeType.ElementContainer) {
+      collectNativeNodes(lView, tNode.child, result);
+    } else if (tNode.type === TNodeType.Container) {
+      const lContainer = lView[tNode.index];
+      const containerTView = tNode.tViews !as TView;
+      ngDevMode && assertDefined(containerTView, 'TView expected');
+      const containerFirstChildTNode = containerTView.firstChild !;
+      if (containerFirstChildTNode !== null) {
+        for (let i = CONTAINER_HEADER_OFFSET; i < lContainer.length; i++) {
+          collectNativeNodes(lContainer[i], containerFirstChildTNode, result);
+        }
+      }
+    } else if (tNode.type === TNodeType.Projection) {
       const componentView = findComponentView(lView);
       const componentHost = componentView[T_HOST] as TElementNode;
       const parentView = getLViewParent(componentView);
       let currentProjectedNode: TNode|null =
-          (componentHost.projection as(TNode | null)[])[tNodeChild.projection as number];
+          (componentHost.projection as(TNode | null)[])[tNode.projection as number];
 
       while (currentProjectedNode && parentView) {
         result.push(getNativeByTNode(currentProjectedNode, parentView));
         currentProjectedNode = currentProjectedNode.next;
       }
     }
-    tNodeChild = tNodeChild.next;
+    tNode = tNode.next;
   }
 
   return result;
diff --git a/packages/core/test/acceptance/view_container_ref_spec.ts b/packages/core/test/acceptance/view_container_ref_spec.ts
index e393c932f4ce3..7798018404e00 100644
--- a/packages/core/test/acceptance/view_container_ref_spec.ts
+++ b/packages/core/test/acceptance/view_container_ref_spec.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 import {CommonModule, DOCUMENT} from '@angular/common';
 import {computeMsgId} from '@angular/compiler';
-import {Compiler, Component, ComponentFactoryResolver, Directive, DoCheck, ElementRef, EmbeddedViewRef, ErrorHandler, NO_ERRORS_SCHEMA, NgModule, OnInit, Pipe, PipeTransform, QueryList, RendererFactory2, RendererType2, Sanitizer, TemplateRef, ViewChild, ViewChildren, ViewContainerRef} from '@angular/core';
+import {Compiler, Component, ComponentFactoryResolver, Directive, DoCheck, ElementRef, EmbeddedViewRef, ErrorHandler, NO_ERRORS_SCHEMA, NgModule, OnInit, Pipe, PipeTransform, QueryList, RendererFactory2, RendererType2, Sanitizer, TemplateRef, ViewChild, ViewChildren, ViewContainerRef, ViewRef} from '@angular/core';
 import {Input} from '@angular/core/src/metadata';
 import {ngDevModeResetPerfCounters} from '@angular/core/src/util/ng_dev_mode';
 import {TestBed, TestComponentRenderer} from '@angular/core/testing';
@@ -872,6 +872,65 @@ describe('ViewContainerRef', () => {
               '<child vcref="">**A**</child><child>**C**</child><child>**C**</child><child>**B**</child>');
     });
 
+    it('should recurs into child views when computing rootNodes elements', () => {
+      class MyDirEmbedded {
+        // This is a marker for easier debugging.
+      }
+
+      @Directive({selector: '[dir]'})
+      class MyDir {
+        viewRef: EmbeddedViewRef<{}>|null = null;
+
+        @Input() dir: any;
+
+        constructor(public template: TemplateRef<{}>, public viewContainerRef: ViewContainerRef) {
+          this.viewRef =
+              this.viewContainerRef.createEmbeddedView(this.template, new MyDirEmbedded());
+          this.viewRef.detectChanges();
+        }
+      }
+
+      @Component({
+        selector: 'edit-form',
+        template: `
+          <ng-template [dir]="true">
+            <div *ngIf="true">Text</div>
+            <ng-container>container-content</ng-container>
+            <div i18n>assert TNodeType.IcuContainer is never a root node</div>
+            <ng-container i18n>assert TNodeType.IcuContainer is never a root node</ng-container>
+          </ng-template>
+        `,
+      })
+      class MyComp {
+        @ViewChild(MyDir, {static: true}) dir !: MyDir;
+      }
+
+      TestBed.configureTestingModule({
+        declarations: [MyComp, MyDir],
+        imports: [CommonModule],
+      });
+
+      const fixture = TestBed.createComponent(MyComp);
+      fixture.detectChanges();
+
+      const dirRef = fixture.componentInstance.dir;
+
+      // Expecting:
+      //   - One comment node for ngIf anchor.
+      //   - One <div>Text</div> node for the ngIf content.
+      //   - VE ONLY: Extra comment node It is unclear why the VE adds the last one.
+      const rootNodes = dirRef.viewRef !.rootNodes;
+      expect(rootNodes.length).toBe(7);
+      expect(rootNodes[0].textContent).toBe('bindings={\n  "ng-reflect-ng-if": "true"\n}');
+      expect(rootNodes[1].outerHTML).toBe('<div>Text</div>');
+      expect(rootNodes[2].textContent).toBe(ivyEnabled ? 'ng-container' : '');
+      expect(rootNodes[3].textContent).toBe('container-content');
+      expect(rootNodes[4].outerHTML)
+          .toBe('<div>assert TNodeType.IcuContainer is never a root node</div>');
+      expect(rootNodes[5].textContent).toBe(ivyEnabled ? 'ng-container' : '');
+      expect(rootNodes[6].textContent).toBe('assert TNodeType.IcuContainer is never a root node');
+    });
+
   });
 
   describe('createComponent', () => {