[Taxacom] Campanulales (no); Pentapetalae (yes)

[Kenneth Kinman]

Dear All, 
      Rob was correct about Campanulales being sunk by APG I (not APG
II).  That was over 12 years ago, and it has become widely accepted.
That fact, and the fact that a new Campanulales would have a different
mix of included families from the old one, it is clearly not worth a
battle (which would have little benefit even if it could be won).  There
are far more important angiosperm Orders that need to be rescued from
APG lumping (especially their large Orders Poales, Ericales, and
Malpighiales, as I have pointed out previously).  I wouldn't be
surprised if their Ericales is actually so large that they have
inadvertently created a paraphyletic taxon (in which case, they would
almost certainly want to split it anyway).    
      So I'm now giving a big thumbs down on Campanulales.  HOWEVER, I
am giving a huge thumbs up to the major clade name PENTAPETALAE.  It is
exactly equivalent to my clade [Dilleniidae + Rosidae + Asteridae].  In
other words, all of Class Rosopsida (eudicots), except for the basalmost
Subclass Ranunculidae.  It is also equivalent to what Peter Stevens once
called "core eudicots", but he eventually changed his mind and started
including Gunnerales as well (in order to conform to the usage by other
APG members).   
      Anyway, I will be quite happy to eliminate the phrase "core
eudicots" from my classification forever.  Instead I will now use a
{{Pentapetalae}} marker as sister group to Order Gunnerales within
Subclass Ranunculidae instead of a {{"core eudicots"}} marker which
could mean different things to different people and different versions
of the APG website.                             
          ----------Ken Kinman           
P.S.  Now, if we could only figure out what the hell is Order
Dilleniales actually a sister to????   I still think it is either sister
to (or part of) the "superasterid" clade, and not a sister (or part of)
the "superrosid" clade.  Of course, there is also the possibility it is
sister group to a combined "superasterid-superrosid" clade.  Anyway that
you look at it, Order Dilleniales is clearly a major player in the
interrelationships of this very important basal Subclass (Dilleniidae)
of Pentapetalae, and thus making Dilleniidae a very appropriate name for
the subclass.