diff --git a/src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/foreign/MemoryLayout.java b/src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/foreign/MemoryLayout.java
index ecef9f55a82e2..eaac5cb936d44 100644
--- a/src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/foreign/MemoryLayout.java
+++ b/src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/foreign/MemoryLayout.java
@@ -739,6 +739,28 @@ static SequenceLayout sequenceLayout(MemoryLayout elementLayout) {
      * @return a struct layout with the given member layouts.
      * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the sum of the {@linkplain #bitSize() bit sizes} of the member layouts
      * overflows.
+     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if a member layout in {@code elements} occurs at an offset (relative to the start
+     * of the struct layout) which is not compatible with its alignment constraint.
+     *
+     * @apiNote This factory does not automatically align element layouts, by inserting additional {@linkplain PaddingLayout
+     * padding layout} elements. As such, the following struct layout creation will fail with an exception:
+     *
+     * {@snippet lang = java:
+     * structLayout(JAVA_SHORT, JAVA_INT)
+     * }
+     *
+     * To avoid the exception, clients can either insert additional padding layout elements:
+     *
+     * {@snippet lang = java:
+     * structLayout(JAVA_SHORT, MemoryLayout.ofPadding(16), JAVA_INT)
+     * }
+     *
+     * Or, alternatively, they can use a member layout which features a smaller alignment constraint. This will result
+     * in a <em>packed</em> struct layout:
+     *
+     * {@snippet lang = java:
+     * structLayout(JAVA_SHORT, JAVA_INT.withBitAlignment(16))
+     * }
      */
     static StructLayout structLayout(MemoryLayout... elements) {
         Objects.requireNonNull(elements);