See the other current discussion here. Id that doesn't answer all your questions the search will pull up many more discussions about them. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: Fungus gnats

Hello luvmydals and welcome. Photos need to be hosted on the web and links posted here for us to view. A good FREE site to use is photobucket: http://photobucket.com/ Create an account and upload your photos via your account. Once the photos are uploaded you'll see them on your account page. Then simply place the mouse cursor over the photo and link options will appear. COPY and PASTE the HTML link and your photo will appear like this: HTH Cheers Matt

Oh my. That wasn't even in my initial research. It was frustrating since at times all i could see online were the flowers. That was a great clue. The growth pattern/ habit was confusing me, it didn't look like any of the previous genera i mentioned. It does look similar to that of corpuscularia. I was leaning towards delosperma and when i researched the names you gave me, i found out they were from the same subfamily and tribe, if not interchangeable or synonyms of each other. Difference i could see was that delosperma are papillate and mine has very smooth almost satiny leaves, a feature of corpuscularia. However, most of the Corpuscularia or Delosperma lehmannii in google images really had plump/ chubby and compact leaves. There were a few long-leaved ones but then they have reddish stalks and mine doesn't (though that could just be due to different growing conditions). The longest leaves on my plant are 1.5 inches or 4cm and the stalks have papery sheaths. Thank you so much for that info rosemarie. I guess i'll treat it as a corpuscularia for the time being.

You have quite the colorful garden growing on your apple tree! The bright green in the second picture and probably the dark green with little russet fruiting bodies in the first appear to be moss. The rest--pale green, dull light green, yellow-green, orange-gold, as well as the dusty white splotches, appear to be a variety of lichens. Lichens are associations of two or three distinct organisms (fungus, algae, and sometimes cyanobacteria) living in varying degrees of cooperation. They come in many sizes, shapes and colors. In general neither lichens nor mosses are thought to threaten the health of trees on which they live. I also live in northern California, at about 1500 feet in the Sierra foothills. Our area is sprinkled with black oak and several varieties of scrub and live oak. When cold weather comes and humidity rises, mosses and lichens suddenly become visible on all these trees. The more moisture we get, the more noticeable (and colorful!) the lichens become. Toward the end of a really wet season, the things are literally hanging off of the branches, like Spanish moss in the South. The one I marvel at most has long curly tendrils of bright glowing chartreuse. When the season changes again and things begin to dry, so do the lichens. Their seasonal extensions break, blow off, or dry up, and all but disappear--until the next rainy season. The oak trees never seem to mind. It's dark out right now, so I don't know whether or not we have lichens on our apple tree, but I wouldn't be surprised or worried if I saw them there. Scraping them off could very well injure a tree, allowing entry to a number of truly harmful organisms. The URL below may help allay your concerns. If you are still worried, you could call your local agricultural extension and make an inquiry. Sweetcicely Here is a link that might be useful: Lichen information