Adams joined the Botany Division of New Zealand's
Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) in Wellington as a technician in 1943 when she was 16 years old. Adams also assisted Moore with another study of the reproductive biology of the
brown alga Halopteris. Although she was not listed as a co-author on the resulting 1946 publication in
Nature, Adams played a critical role in that research project by "examining hundreds of specimens and determining their reproductive characters." Adams was the DSIR Botany Division's botanical illustrator from 1950 to 1959, working on a wide variety of projects and plant groups, including algae, mosses, and flowering plants. Working alongside Curator
Patrick Brownsey and technician
Fiona Pitt, Adams was instrumental in both growing the botany collection at the museum as well as registering, organising, mounting and curating it. She retired from her position at the museum in 1987 but continued to be an Honorary Research Associate of the Museum. Adams was a prolific artist, illustrating nearly forty publications on native plants, alpine life, trees and shrubs. Included in these publications is an article written by
Ella Orr Campbell, a fellow New Zealander, for whom Adams drew
Thallus of Marchasta bearing archegoniophores. She received international recognition for her detailed and delicate algal illustrations. ==Awards and honours==