While a majority of Delzie Demaree's (1889–1987) career was spent as a professor of botany, he is best known for his great passion for field work. While he collected plants in many southwestern states the bulk of his work was performed in Arkansas, where he started collecting in 1922 during a teaching position at Hendricks College. During his career he collected over 75,000 numbered specimens, roughly 50,000 of which were later donated to Southern Methodist University in Texas. Demaree was not a prolific writer of scientific publications, only publishing 4 papers in his lifetime. Instead, he is perhaps most known for his preparation of A catalogue of the vascular plants of Arkansas, which he self published in his own single-volume journal Taxodium. This would only be distributed to a few close friends until 1974 when it saw slightly larger distribution in the form of inscribed copies given to attendees of Demaree's 85th birthday celebration. Demaree taught until 1951, when he retired from Arkansas State University and moved to Texas, where he would live until his death in 1987.