diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/StandardTypes.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/StandardTypes.h
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/StandardTypes.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/StandardTypes.h
@@ -426,6 +426,11 @@
 public:
   using ShapedType::ShapedType;
 
+  /// Return true if the specified element type is ok in a memref.
+  static bool isValidElementType(Type type) {
+    return type.isIntOrIndexOrFloat() || type.isa<VectorType, ComplexType>();
+  }
+
   /// Methods for support type inquiry through isa, cast, and dyn_cast.
   static bool classof(Type type);
 };
diff --git a/mlir/lib/IR/StandardTypes.cpp b/mlir/lib/IR/StandardTypes.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/IR/StandardTypes.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/IR/StandardTypes.cpp
@@ -408,9 +408,7 @@
                                Optional<Location> location) {
   auto *context = elementType.getContext();
 
-  // Check that memref is formed from allowed types.
-  if (!elementType.isIntOrIndexOrFloat() &&
-      !elementType.isa<VectorType, ComplexType>())
+  if (!BaseMemRefType::isValidElementType(elementType))
     return emitOptionalError(location, "invalid memref element type"),
            MemRefType();
 
@@ -486,9 +484,7 @@
 LogicalResult
 UnrankedMemRefType::verifyConstructionInvariants(Location loc, Type elementType,
                                                  unsigned memorySpace) {
-  // Check that memref is formed from allowed types.
-  if (!elementType.isIntOrFloat() &&
-      !elementType.isa<VectorType, ComplexType>())
+  if (!BaseMemRefType::isValidElementType(elementType))
     return emitError(loc, "invalid memref element type");
   return success();
 }
diff --git a/mlir/test/IR/invalid.mlir b/mlir/test/IR/invalid.mlir
--- a/mlir/test/IR/invalid.mlir
+++ b/mlir/test/IR/invalid.mlir
@@ -17,6 +17,14 @@
 
 // -----
 
+func @illegalmemrefelementtype(memref<?xtensor<i8>>) -> () // expected-error {{invalid memref element type}}
+
+// -----
+
+func @illegalunrankedmemrefelementtype(memref<*xtensor<i8>>) -> () // expected-error {{invalid memref element type}}
+
+// -----
+
 func @indexvector(vector<4 x index>) -> () // expected-error {{vector elements must be int or float type}}
 
 // -----
diff --git a/mlir/test/IR/parser.mlir b/mlir/test/IR/parser.mlir
--- a/mlir/test/IR/parser.mlir
+++ b/mlir/test/IR/parser.mlir
@@ -152,6 +152,12 @@
 // CHECK: func @unranked_memref_with_complex_elems(memref<*xcomplex<f32>>)
 func @unranked_memref_with_complex_elems(memref<*xcomplex<f32>>)
 
+// CHECK: func @unranked_memref_with_index_elems(memref<*xindex>)
+func @unranked_memref_with_index_elems(memref<*xindex>)
+
+// CHECK: func @unranked_memref_with_vector_elems(memref<*xvector<10xf32>>)
+func @unranked_memref_with_vector_elems(memref<*xvector<10xf32>>)
+
 // CHECK: func @functions((memref<1x?x4x?x?xi32, #map0>, memref<8xi8>) -> (), () -> ())
 func @functions((memref<1x?x4x?x?xi32, #map0, 0>, memref<8xi8, #map1, 0>) -> (), ()->())