diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/R/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/R/package.py
index fa8adb69eaa..a60fa8122c1 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/R/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/R/package.py
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ class R(Package):
     depends_on('icu4c')
     depends_on('glib')
     depends_on('zlib')
+    depends_on('zlib@:1.2.8', when='@:3.3.1')
     depends_on('bzip2')
     depends_on('libtiff')
     depends_on('jpeg')