Re: [tied] PIE mustelids and seals

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 4501
Date: 2000-10-25

There are a few dozen species all told, distributed all over the temperate and arctic zones of the northern hemisphere; the exact number is difficult to establish since they hybridise a lot. Most of them look almost indistinguishable to a non-botanist (except, of course, for the dwarf birches of the tundra, which are tiny shrubs), and their common features include the characteristic silver-white or greyish-white bark. The differences between, say, the American silver birch (which reaches South America and crosses the equator there) and the European white birch are very subtle indeed. The distrbution of the genus is (and has for a long time been) too wide to be of any use in the Urheimat dispute.
 
Piotr
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: João Simões Lopes Filho
To: cybalist@egroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2000 3:57 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] PIE mustelids and seals

But, how many species of birch exist? What's their geographical distribution, past and present?