diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/hdf-eos5/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/hdf-eos5/package.py
index 6d20fce1a0c..7e8956de622 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/hdf-eos5/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/hdf-eos5/package.py
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ def configure_args(self):
         extra_args.append('--with-hdf5={0}'.format(self.spec['hdf5'].prefix))
         if 'szip' in self.spec:
             extra_args.append('--with-szlib={0}'.format(
-                self.spec['libszip'].prefix))
+                self.spec['szip'].prefix))
         if 'zlib' in self.spec:
             extra_args.append('--with-zlib={0}'.format(
                 self.spec['zlib'].prefix))