diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/fenics/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/fenics/package.py
index 722d5c45be2a04fdd6bb403f326629636a1e0f7a..7dbdc777a5b3d6b4c328e00714757a6634cee043 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/fenics/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/fenics/package.py
@@ -61,7 +61,8 @@ class Fenics(CMakePackage):
     # FIXME: next line fixes concretization with petsc
     depends_on('hdf5+hl+fortran', when='+hdf5+petsc')
     depends_on('hdf5+hl', when='+hdf5~petsc')
-    depends_on('parmetis@4.0.2:^metis+real64', when='+parmetis')
+    depends_on('parmetis@4.0.2:', when='+parmetis')
+    depends_on('metis+real64', when='+parmetis')
     depends_on('scotch~metis', when='+scotch~mpi')
     depends_on('scotch+mpi~metis', when='+scotch+mpi')
     depends_on('petsc@3.4:', when='+petsc')