diff --git a/lib/spack/env/cc b/lib/spack/env/cc
index 73c5759dfe144c5d2ed70ac5d864f2c8448d0bb7..f2b8bf577f55658a75182db309b75681f39b70b8 100755
--- a/lib/spack/env/cc
+++ b/lib/spack/env/cc
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ parameters=(
 # The compiler input variables are checked for sanity later:
 #   SPACK_CC, SPACK_CXX, SPACK_F77, SPACK_FC
 # The default compiler flags are passed from these variables:
-#   SPACK_CFLAGS, SPACK_CXXFLAGS, SPACK_FCFLAGS, SPACK_FFLAGS,
+#   SPACK_CFLAGS, SPACK_CXXFLAGS, SPACK_FFLAGS,
 #   SPACK_LDFLAGS, SPACK_LDLIBS
 # Debug env var is optional; set to "TRUE" for debug logging:
 #   SPACK_DEBUG
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/autotools.py b/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/autotools.py
index c21b8dad71becbde0f4c0b79ac5627ffba5da927..5b4f223d417ba7bf375cfe479de01974799072dc 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/autotools.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/autotools.py
@@ -263,6 +263,12 @@ def flags_to_build_system_args(self, flags):
             if values:
                 values_str = '{0}={1}'.format(flag.upper(), ' '.join(values))
                 self.configure_flag_args.append(values_str)
+        # Spack's fflags are meant for both F77 and FC, therefore we
+        # additionaly set FCFLAGS if required.
+        values = flags.get('fflags', None)
+        if values:
+            values_str = 'FCFLAGS={0}'.format(' '.join(values))
+            self.configure_flag_args.append(values_str)
 
     def configure(self, spec, prefix):
         """Runs configure with the arguments specified in