Vegetation on Mars?

[Eli]

I knew there were some claims that vegetation exists on Mars on the basis of real authentic pictures(no sarcasm) like this and this, but I was always sure that the people who say this are the same wackos who claim that Galileo will cause a huge nuclear chain reaction on Jupiter when it crashes into it in couple days.

So it's just another crazy conspiracy theory, and everything is nice and pretty until... look what I find on space.com :

Arthur C. Clarke: Mars Has the Munchies

Mars has a case of the munchies. That is, the red planet is spotted with vegetation with some sort of life feasting on the foliage. So says Arthur Clarke, the noted sci-fi writer and space visionary, making the claim during a recent conference on the space elevator.

[snip]

"Mars is the obvious place," Clarke said. "I'm now quite convinced that Mars is infested with life. Mars orbiter photographs show huge areas of vegetation. I don't think there's any doubt anymore on that. And where there's vegetation, they'll be something nibbling on it," he said.

...

Clarke? Is this serious?

[Hagbart]

I wouldn't trust that. I don't think he's a reliable source.

[Chemical Ollie]

I rather vegetate on Apolyton than on Mars.

[Mercator]

I bet he is.

He's an excellent sci-fi author and visionary, but since he doesn't have anything to back this up (like, um... evidence) it doesn't mean ****.

[Giovanni Wine]

So says Arthur Clarke, the noted sci-fi writer and space visionary,

I don't think there is nothing to add to this quote.

Saluti

[Whaleboy]

Could they be making the same mistake as 19th century astronomers by mistaking the dust storms as seasonal vegitation?

These make the dark regions on mars.

[TimeTraveler]

It does seem somewhat unlikely that these claims of Martian vegetation are actually true, but it sure would be cool if they were.

[Ecthy]

what are they supposed to be, trees?

[MichaeltheGreat]

Fungus at most, and it's a possibility, even with the winds.

[Chemical Ollie]

Perhaps they are "little green weed"

[Ecthy]

xenofungus?

[chequita guevara]

He's old and losing it.

[Ecthy]

so the question is: will we have Social Psych before Secrets of the Human Brain?

[Lincoln]

I don't think there are any vegetarians on Mars. There wouldn't be anything for them to eat...

[el freako]

AFAIK clarke is a noted believer in panspermia (the idea that life originated somewhere other than the earth and migrated here).

Personally I am sceptical - life tends to change a planet so much that it's easy to detect even when you can't actually see it.