Hawaii plant specialists are making headway in the revival of a native plant species once extinct in the wild.

The cliff-face catchfly, also known as Silene perlmanii, is known to live in its natural state in only one place in the world: the Waianae Mountain Range. The white- flowered shrub prefers rocky, steep and high elevations of 2,000 feet or more.

Botanist Steve Perlman discovered the plant almost 30 years ago, when there were still 20 individuals living in nature. But by 1994,only one remained. None was seen in the wild from 2001 until conservationists began planting the shrub in the mountain range.

Susan Ching, Oahu coordinator for the Plant Extinction Prevention Program, part of the University of Hawaii, said that over the past three or four years, more than 100 cliff-face catchfly have been grown in nurseries and planted in the Waianae Mountains.

This year specialists have about 100 plants they will “outplant” in the mountains, possibly starting in October.

But Ching said that with even 1,000 outplantings, “you aren’t out of the woods until you’re having a lot of regeneration of those seedlings back in the wild, and it does take decades sometimes.”

Ching said the cliff-face catchfly is one of scores of plant species on the brink of extinction in Hawaii. About 240 native species here have fewer than 50 individuals in the wild.

She said more resources are needed for saving native plants, especially because her organization endured federal funding cuts this year of about 40 percent and could face more cuts next year.

She showed several endangered plants at a news conference at the Kalanimoku Building on Sunday, such as the Hawaiian haiwale, a shrub of the African violet family with fewer than 25 plants living only in the Koolau Range on Oahu.

“The rare plants you see here once were common,” she said. “They’re representative of the fact that the ecosystem is slowly being degraded one species at a time.”

Ching said rare species play an important role in Hawaiian native forests because they interact with native species, including some insects that rear their young only on the rare native plants.

Lara Reynolds, Oahu district botanist for the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife, said about 400 of Hawaii’s 1,400 native plant species are threatened or endangered and face threats from human activity and invasive species.

Reynolds said the division collects seeds of rare and common native plants for outplantings because both help foster a healthy native forest and aid in the recovery of native birds, insects and snails.

She said species need to be replanted in their native habitat because seeds are viable for only a few years.

“Seeds just buy us time,” she said.