diff --git a/pkgs/applications/science/math/sage/sage-env.nix b/pkgs/applications/science/math/sage/sage-env.nix
index 1503d3a89957..2dffa14c6614 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/science/math/sage/sage-env.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/science/math/sage/sage-env.nix
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
 , zlib
 , gsl
 , ntl
-, jdk
+, jre8
 , less
 }:
 
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ let
     ecm
     lcalc
     rubiks
-    jdk # only needed for `jmol` which may be replaced in the future
+    jre8 # only needed for `jmol` (https://sourceforge.net/p/jmol/mailman/message/58818762/), which will be optional in sage 10.5
     less # needed to prevent transient test errors until https://github.com/ipython/ipython/pull/11864 is resolved
   ]
   ));