diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/meme/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/meme/package.py
index 3545051b7d5..1229847ee68 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/meme/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/meme/package.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ class Meme(AutotoolsPackage):
     depends_on("mpi", when="+mpi")
     depends_on("imagemagick", type=("build", "run"), when="+image-magick")
     depends_on("perl-xml-parser", type=("build", "run"))
+    depends_on("perl-xml-simple", when="@4.5.0:")
     depends_on("libxml2", type=("build", "run"))
     depends_on("libxslt", type=("build", "run"))