Consensus

[Ken Kinman]

Peter,
     As I have said before, I think the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group has provided an excellent start toward a consensus classification for flowering plants.  I still think they have gone a little overboard on lumping some of the Orders, but when some of those prove to be unintentionally paraphyletic (or even polyphyletic?), I'm sure the APG will resplit those groupings.   :-)   I've never regarded the strict cladists in botany to be nearly as extreme as some of their counterparts in zoology (various herpetologists in particular).  And also note that I don't think the Kinman System will be "the best".  Just that it is superior to strict cladism, and therefore it's a first step toward what will become "the best" consensus classificatory philosophy down the road.
  ---Cheers,
         Ken Kinman