diff --git a/src/ng/directive/select.js b/src/ng/directive/select.js
index 27a92c4877d9..77b2f46d23d3 100644
--- a/src/ng/directive/select.js
+++ b/src/ng/directive/select.js
@@ -521,7 +521,6 @@ var optionDirective = ['$interpolate', function($interpolate) {
   return {
     restrict: 'E',
     priority: 100,
-    require: '^select',
     compile: function(element, attr) {
       if (isUndefined(attr.value)) {
         var interpolateFn = $interpolate(element.text(), true);
@@ -530,8 +529,13 @@ var optionDirective = ['$interpolate', function($interpolate) {
         }
       }
 
-      return function (scope, element, attr, selectCtrl) {
-        if (selectCtrl.databound) {
+      return function (scope, element, attr) {
+        var selectCtrlName = '$selectController',
+            parent = element.parent(),
+            selectCtrl = parent.data(selectCtrlName) ||
+              parent.parent().data(selectCtrlName); // in case we are in optgroup
+
+        if (selectCtrl && selectCtrl.databound) {
           // For some reason Opera defaults to true and if not overridden this messes up the repeater.
           // We don't want the view to drive the initialization of the model anyway.
           element.prop('selected', false);
diff --git a/test/ng/directive/selectSpec.js b/test/ng/directive/selectSpec.js
index 321990e80d18..c63d17bfaa66 100644
--- a/test/ng/directive/selectSpec.js
+++ b/test/ng/directive/selectSpec.js
@@ -1108,7 +1108,7 @@ describe('select', function() {
   });
 
 
-  describe('OPTION value', function() {
+  describe('option', function() {
 
     it('should populate value attribute on OPTION', function() {
       compile('<select ng-model="x"><option selected>abc</option></select>');
@@ -1125,5 +1125,18 @@ describe('select', function() {
       compile('<select ng-model="x"><option>hello</select>');
       expect(element).toEqualSelect(['hello']);
     });
+
+    it('should not blow up when option directive is found inside of a datalist',
+        inject(function($compile, $rootScope) {
+      var element = $compile('<div>' +
+                               '<datalist><option>some val</option></datalist>' +
+                               '<span>{{foo}}</span>' +
+                             '</div>')($rootScope);
+
+      $rootScope.foo = 'success';
+      $rootScope.$digest();
+      expect(element.find('span').text()).toBe('success');
+      dealoc(element);
+    }));
   });
 });