you all made me laugh. i thought the smell is havenly until my daughter returned one holiday and asked what's this cats urine smell in the house....... now i see why!!!

You all made me laugh so hard I woke my wife in bed this morning. I told her I was going to make some coffee and go outside to smell the fig leaves to see if they would smell like cat urine. She gave me priceless look and went back to bed.

Cool topic, i have a fig tree in at my parents house in Croatia, and in Summer the tree smells like coconut, or coconut with a bit vanilla. Everyone loves it. Funny thing is, the inside of a cutting has the same smell. I am addicted to that smell, it´s like smelling truffels :)

Wow... This is funny. At the end of last year, I wonder why my fig tree smell like cat urine. And I blame my neighbour cat that pee at my fig tree. Am even worried my tree would die of cat urine. Every morning when I watering my fig tree am searching where those smell come from. Now I know, its not cat but it come out from my fig tree

I have a local unknown that is extremely fragrant.

Of @ 70+ small plants growing, nothing else is even close. I originally thought it was all of them.

The smell was great. nothing like cat pee though.

I realized it was this one type in giving some away and my car still smelled like the plant two days later.

This caused me to "smell all the fig plants". Being inside I didn't want to angry the wife. You could smell them walking into the house.

I still have a couple, after giving several away, I am safe now.

OK, maybe just the figs are safe, lol.

         Mike

Mine does indeed have a very faint smell similar to that of cat pee.

I enjoy the smell of figs.  

My figs are outside and they have a pleasant vanilla type smell. My cousin's fig tree is indoors because she has short warm season, and she says hers has a cat pee smell. Maybe it's indoor outdoor thing, or your location.

I too noticed the different smells that the fig leaves can give off, cat pee being my least favorite! Lol! It is definitely worse inside as I found out over this past winter. From what Ive seen it seems like ithe smell is strongest when they are in a growth spurt. Also noticed my CdDN and CdDG both seem to smell more like cat pee than the others.. Totally crazy.. I'm glad I'm not the only one smelling this coming off of fig leaves.. For some reason I'm the only one in my house that noticed it so I was questioning what the heck was going on with my sense of smell!

If kept inside the house, the bigger they get the more they smell.

My unknown in ground smelled like cat pee earlier this year, during intensive growth. Second half of the season the urine smell disappeared and now it is a more pleasant, nutty scent. I may have become used to it, not sure.
A small potted RdB also has the 'fig smell', but other varieties don't or a lot weaker.
Recently I found a large fig tree hidden in a small garden in the city because i felt the smell from the other side of the fence and I knew there was a fig tree nearby. Its 3m /10ft tall so it must be cold hardy and I plan to ask for cuttings.

I've also noticed a cat urine like odor coming from fig cuttings/young plants grown inside the house or enclosed greenhouse. But as they grow larger, the odor is replaced with an earthy, sweet-spice smell. You just have to get past that initial growth stage, then it's all good. :)  

Since this is bringing out the fact that people are driven to investigate smells even if they have not smelled them for themselves yet...I challenge you to sniff your dog's feet and tell me they don't smell like popcorn.