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1. Floral scents have been suggested to play a key role in the obligate pollination mutualism between figs and fig wasps. However, few studies have determined whether pollinator‐attractive compounds could alone assure species‐specificity (‘private channel’), or whether specificity is mediated by more complex ‘floral filters’, of which scent is only one component.

2. We examined changes in the floral volatile compounds of Ficus semicordata, a dioecious fig species, during and after pollination using headspace collection and compound identification by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS). One benzenoid compound, 4‐methylanisole, was strongly predominant (94–98%) among the volatile compounds emitted by both male and female receptive figs of F. semicordata, whereas it was totally absent in the volatiles emitted by figs 4 days after pollination, as well as in receptive‐stage volatiles emitted …