Шерфф получил степень бакалавра ботаники в колледже Альбиона, а затем поступил в Чикагский университет, чтобы получить степень магистра, а затем докторскую степень. Он внёс значительный вклад в ботанику, описав множество видов семенных растений[3].
Millspaugh, CF; EE Sherff. 1918. New Species of Xanthium & Solidago. Field Museum of Natural History. Bot. ser. vol. 4. Nº 1.
1920. North American species of Taraxacum (Contr. Hull Bot. Laboratory). Ed. Univ Chicago Press
1932. Revision of the Genus Cosmos, etc. Field Museum of Natural History. Bot.Ser. vol. 8 Nº 6.
1933. New or otherwise noteworthy Compositae, VIII
1935. Revision of Haplostachys, Phyllostegia, & Stenogyne. Bernice P. Bishop Museum bull. 101 pp.
1936. Some Compositae of southeastern Polynesia (Bidens, Cereopsis, Cosmos, & Oparanthus). Ed. The Museum. 19 pp.
1939. Revision of Tetramolopium, Lipochaeta, Dubautia, & Railliardia. Ed. Bernice P. Bishop Museum bull. 136 pp.
1940. A new genus of Compositae from northwestern Alabama. Fieldiana
1941. Additions to our knowledge of the American & Hawaiian floras, (Fieldiana: Botany)
1941. New or otherwise noteworthy plants from the Hawaiian Islands. 31 pp.
1945. Some additions to the genus Dodonaea L. (fam. Sapindaceae). 214 pp.
1948. A new variety of Gnaphalium sandwicensium Gaud. in the Hawaiian Islands
1949. Miscellaneous notes on Dicotyledonous plants. 511 pp.
1949. Some new or otherwise noteworthy dicotyledonous plants from the Hawiian Islands. Ed. Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum. Occ. papers. 25 pp.
1951. Miscellaneous notes on new or otherwise noteworthy Dicotyledonous plants. 73 pp.
1954. Botanical leaflets: A series of studies in the systematic botany of miscellaneous dicotyledonous plants. Nº 1—9; mayo de 1950-enero de 1954.
1954. Revision of the genus Cheirdendron Nutt. ex Seem. for the Hawaiian Islands. Fieldiana: Botany. Ed. Natural History Museum. 45 pp.
1955. Revision of the Hawaiian Members of the Genus Tetraplasandra A. Gray. 142 pp.
1955. Compositae — Heliantheae — Coreopsidinae. North American flora. Series 2. Ed. New York Botanical Garden. 190 pp.
1962. Miscellaneous notes on some American & Hawaiian Dicotyledons (Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum. Occ. papers). Ed. Bernice P. Bishop Museum. 214 pp.
1964. An annotated list of my botanical writings;: A bibliographic list, with notations of observed errata, needed emendations, & additions of taxa described … for inclusion in the original publications. Ed. Earl Edward Sherff Botanical Library, Illinois Wesleyan Univ. 48 pp.
1964. Some recently collected dicotyledonous plants from the Hawaiian Islands & Mexico (Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum. Occ. papers). Ed. Bernice P. Bishop Museum. 127 pp.
1971. Revision of haplostachys, phyllostegia, & stenogyne (Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu. Bulletin). Ed. Kraus Reprint. 101 pp.
Robert H. Mohlenbrock: Illinois Solanaceae in the Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium and Biographical Sketches of Some Collectors. In: Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Band 69, 1982. S. 382—392.
Barnhart, J.H. Biographical Notes Upon Botanists. — Vol. 3. — P. 269.