The US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis Eastwide Database is used to describe the areal extent, species composition, and tree diameter distributions of United States forests. Horizontal canopy occupancy by genera is then estimated as a function of diameter at breast height. Growing season peak foliar masses are derived from the empirical literature for canopies of deciduous and coniferous genera. A simple canopy model is used to adjust photosynthetically active solar radiation at five vertical levels in the canopy. Leaf temperature and photosynthetically active radiation derived from ambient conditions above the forest canopy are then used to drive empirical equations to estimate genus level emission rates of BVOCs vertically through forest canopies. -Authors