I was under the impression the most plant matter on the Antarctic mainland was a little moss, but these photos have just been released claimed to be there of a full covering of grass. Has this happened there every summer or is this something new? http://www.photo.antarctica.ac.uk/external/guest/detail/cart/10001182/1/8

ceetee

The caption on the photo says it was taken on South Georgia which is way north of the Antarctic mainland. Native vegetation on South Georgia is limited to grasses, mosses, lichens, ferns and a few other small flowering plants. A number of other introduced species have become naturalised; many of these were introduced by whalers in cattle fodder, and some are considered invasive.[22] There are no trees or shrubs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Georgia_and_the_South_Sandwich_Islands Dec 15 11, 3:26 PM

satguru

That makes more sense although there are about 20 photos there and a few seem to be of the mainland. I've found two species of plants besides mosses that do live on 1% of the area on the western peninsula during the summer which is different to the one I found saying there was no more than moss. http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/about_antarctica/wildlife/plants/ Hopefully between the two answers that should cover them all, thanks. Dec 15 11, 3:53 PM