Some seeds from the site were sent to the National Tropical Botanical Garden on Kaua'i for safekeeping, while the seedlings were removed and placed in the care of Maui Nui Botanical Garden and Ho'olawa Farms on Maui.

Hunters helped reduce the population of deer in the area, and a fenced enclosure within an enclosure was erected to keep the animals out. Medeiros said the seeds and seedlings were returned to Pu'u-o-Kali and planted in April 2003.

Pu'u-o-Kali, at an elevation of 800 to 1,450 feet, is one of the hottest, driest spots on Maui, and Medeiros described it as little more than a "rock pile." The land is owned by the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. He said the new plants were watered over that first summer, then left to survive on their own.

And survive they did, producing their first blooms this week.

"It was a miracle," Medeiros said. "After backing off on watering, you really fear for the plants. But Hawaiian plants are tough."

The biologist said it is rare when a plant can be reintroduced at one of its former sites. "So often the habitat is destroyed so completely and they never have any place to put them," he said.

Ma'o hau hele, or Hibiscus brackenridgei, was first described in 1838 from a specimen collected on West Maui. It exists on O'ahu, Lana'i, Maui and the Big Island, and possibly Kaua'i, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It used to grow on Moloka'i and Kaho'olawe, where it was recently reintroduced.

Kula retiree Bob Mikell, 59, is one of the many Maui Restoration Group volunteers who have been working at Pu'u-o-Kali and a separate forest restoration project above 'Ulupalakua. He helped plant the hibiscus seedlings and water them. About twice a month, Mikell goes down to the remote site to monitor insect activity with research biologist Erica vonAllmen, who works with Medeiros.

"It's very interesting to see the old plants come back that were gone and to watch their struggle," he said. "Some of them make it and some don't."

Medeiros said that even though the extinction of the ma'o hau hele wouldn't have major environmental impacts, there are other reasons to save the rare plant.

"This is just a beautiful symbol of Hawai'i," he said. "It was picked as the state flower and it's a thing of beauty that has a right to a life of its own."

The Pu'u-o-Kali replanting won't be considered a success until the shrubs can reproduce without human help. In the meantime, volunteers monitor the enclosures to make sure the plants are safe.

Other partners in the restoration effort are the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Goodfellow Brothers construction company, the Tri-Isle Resource Conservation and Development Council, and 'Olino, a newly formed nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of dryland forests in Maui Nui.