A team of Schofield Barracks soldiers, led by a University of Hawaii plant researcher, today continued their reintroduction of a tree that has been declared extinct in the wild to its native home in Makua Valley.

Twenty-nine 29 plants grown from the seeds of the last Cyanea superba — a palmlike tree that evolved and grew only on Oahu in the Waianae Mountains — were placed in a container and helicoptered into Makua Valley.

"In general, there had been nothing to protect the plants from wild pigs and other predators for hundreds of years," said Matt Keir, a UH botanist who is overseeing the project.

"(Pigs) had stomped around and eaten most of the things. And then rats would eat all the fruits, and if they ever germinated, the slugs would eat the seedlings."

In the 1970s, there were just over five dozen Cyanea superba plants. By the late 90s, there were less than 10. By 2000, it was down to one.

The last Cyanea superba died in 2003 — but not before it flowered. Seeds from those flowers were grown into saplings in a greenhouse above Makua Valley.

The death of the last Cyanea superba made the plant extinct in the wild, Keir said, meaning there were no known living Cyanea superba in its natural habitat.

The plants being reintroduced will be managed plants, he said.

Already, about 200 Cyanea superba, which can grow up to 20 feet tall, have been planted in Makua Valley from those last seeds. About three-fourths of them have survived, Keir said.

The plants delivered today, each about 3 feet tall, were lifted in a small red-and-white container that resembled a tool shed. They were taken to a spot in the valley at an elevation of about 2,000 feet, where a dozen workers began planting them.

Keir said the carefully protected plants should thrive, thanks to fences that keep pigs out and organic slug bait.