Morphology, Taxonomy, Anatomy, and Palynology of the Opium Poppy (Papaver somniferum L.) Cultivation in Northern Thailand

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The introduction section is not well-written in the format as expected for the research paper to be published in this reputed Journal. I recommend re-write and expanding: Introduction section with updated literatures. 

The manuscript objectives still need improvement and explanation in detail.

The authors are advised to improve the manuscript in terms of adequate language levels as well as research paper structure. 

The authors should elaborate more on their findings and discussion compared to other studies, to their importance, as well as to plant profile in the screened region.

English should be improved; grammar needs enhancement in many sentences and paragraphs.

Figure 1, 5, and 10 are needed for resolution enhancement.

The discussion should show how these new findings support the research question and hypothesis.

Please check the References in-text and end-list for uniformity in style.

 

The introduction section is not well-written in the format as expected for the research paper to be published in this reputed Journal. I recommend re-write and expanding: Introduction section with updated literatures. 

The manuscript objectives still need improvement and explanation in detail.

The authors are advised to improve the manuscript in terms of adequate language levels as well as research paper structure. 

The authors should elaborate more on their findings and discussion compared to other studies, to their importance, as well as to plant profile in the screened region.

English should be improved; grammar needs enhancement in many sentences and paragraphs.

Figure 1, 5, and 10 are needed for resolution enhancement.

The discussion should show how these new findings support the research question and hypothesis.

Please check the References in-text and end-list for uniformity in style.

 

Author Response

Respond to Reviewer 1

The authors are grateful to thank the reviewer 1 for valuable comments.

Thank you very much for your kind consideration.

For improvements and corrections in this paper, the authors highlighted in red.

We add four paragraphs and nine references [12–20] in Introduction (Line 49–87).

Poppy is reported to have originated in ancient Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq and Kuwait) [12] and sourced for latex (milky sap) whose alkaloids are used in the pharmaceutical industry or for poppy seeds that are used in the food industry [13]. Poppy is illegal in most parts of the world including Thailand. Only a few countries that the legal cultivation of opium poppy for pharmaceutical and food industry is done in Australia, Canada, India, Central and Southern America, Türkiye (Turkey), Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Holland, France, Hungary, Iran, Poland, Romania, and Spain [14,15].

 

Different cultivars with low alkaloid content can be used in the food industry for seed or oil production [16] such as in some European countries (e.g. Germany and the Czech Republic), which only permit the cultivation of ‘low‐morphine’ varieties of Papaver somniferum. Apart from these, some countries only grow varieties to derive pharmaceutical use from the capsules (e.g. Australia, France, and Spain) or for both culinary and pharmaceutical uses (e.g. Hungary and Slovakia). Poppy grows on a wide variety of soil textures but the clayey type soils can be relatively harder to plough and pulverize sufficiently for the roots of young poppy plants to penetrate. On the other hand, sandy soils tend to lose water to percolation, resulting in the moisture being insufficient for the healthy growth.

 

Poppy prefers moderately cool weather and open sunny location; severely cold spell, frost, dull cloudy weather, high winds and very heavy rainfall during the lancing period adversely affect the quantity and quality of opium yield [17]. Water stress can affect the alkaloid production during various developmental stages of poppy plants, with sufficient supply water being beneficial for alkaloid accumulation in the capsules, while drought can increase the level of certain alkaloids. Nitrogen fertilization can elevate alkaloid accumulation [18] only under excessive light conditions, while severe drought can reduce the accumulation of morphinans [19].

Under pressure of the Nixon administration’s “war on drugs”, a crackdown on poppy cultivation was undertaken by the Thai government, deeming it illegal to grow the crop, with a reported drop in production from well over 10000 ha in 1961 to under 300 ha in 2015 [20]. Subsequent research and development of geographically suitable alternative crops and other incentives meant that the small landholders were dissuaded to cultivate the crop. This illegal status of the poppy crop meant that no substantial researches could be conducted about the plant and its medical benefits in Thailand. Additionally, there is almost no data about the morphological traits of poppy in Thailand and the herbarium specimens already outdated. With proven benefits of poppy already reported, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, Thailand plans to study poppy for further usage in the pharmaceutical industry. In light of that effort, this study is a first comprehensive study of its kind reporting on the morphological characteristics of poppy growing naturally in Thailand. Thus, this study will add to the fundamental knowledge about the species in Thailand for future uses in the medical industry.

The manuscript objectives still need improvement and explanation in detail.

Please see Introduction.

 

The authors are advised to improve the manuscript in terms of adequate language levels as well as research paper structure.

See information and table below.

 

The authors should elaborate more on their findings and discussion compared to other studies, to their importance, as well as to plant profile in the screened region.

Please see conclusions.

 

English should be improved; grammar needs enhancement in many sentences and paragraphs.

Dr Tushar Andriyas has checked English language for this paper.

 

Figure 1, 5, and 10 are needed for resolution enhancement.

Figure 1, 5, and 10 are high resolution.

 

The discussion should show how these new findings support the research question and hypothesis.

Please see conclusions.

Opium poppy is illegal in most parts of the world including Thailand, such information about opium poppy is mostly lacking and its characteristics poorly known. We have got permission to study and support by the Narcotics Crop Survey and Control Institute, ONCB, Ministry of Justice. In this research project, we provide the morphology, taxonomy, anatomy, and palynology of Papaver somniferum. As a result, we update detailed morphological description for this species, which is more than information of previous studies in Thailand and neighboring countries. With proven benefits of opium poppy already reported, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, Thailand plans to study opium poppy for further usage in the pharmaceutical industry.

The species can be characterised as a glabrous and glaucous herb; having unlobed or pinnately lobed leaves, and an amplexicaul base; variations in color and morphological characteristics of petals; and white filaments, occasionally purple with a white basal part, broadened at the apical part.

From our study, we found number of seeds per capsule of Papaver somniferum has a range of 593–4685. We realized number of seeds per capsule depends on size of fruits and number of carpels.  

Please check the References in-text and end-list for uniformity in style.

We follow guideline for authors.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors,

Congratulations on the search. However, I reiterate that the text presented in the manuscript needs to be more objective, in the same way that its tables and figures need to be reduced.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Respond to Reviewer 2

The authors are grateful to thank the reviewer 2 for valuable comments.

Thank you very much for your kind consideration.

For improvements and corrections in this paper, the authors highlighted in red.

We add four paragraphs and nine references [12–20] in Introduction (Line 49–87).

Poppy is reported to have originated in ancient Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq and Kuwait) [12] and sourced for latex (milky sap) whose alkaloids are used in the pharmaceutical industry or for poppy seeds that are used in the food industry [13]. Poppy is illegal in most parts of the world including Thailand. Only a few countries that the legal cultivation of opium poppy for pharmaceutical and food industry is done in Australia, Canada, India, Central and Southern America, Türkiye (Turkey), Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Holland, France, Hungary, Iran, Poland, Romania, and Spain [14,15].

 

Different cultivars with low alkaloid content can be used in the food industry for seed or oil production [16] such as in some European countries (e.g. Germany and the Czech Republic), which only permit the cultivation of ‘low‐morphine’ varieties of Papaver somniferum. Apart from these, some countries only grow varieties to derive pharmaceutical use from the capsules (e.g. Australia, France, and Spain) or for both culinary and pharmaceutical uses (e.g. Hungary and Slovakia). Poppy grows on a wide variety of soil textures but the clayey type soils can be relatively harder to plough and pulverize sufficiently for the roots of young poppy plants to penetrate. On the other hand, sandy soils tend to lose water to percolation, resulting in the moisture being insufficient for the healthy growth.

 

Poppy prefers moderately cool weather and open sunny location; severely cold spell, frost, dull cloudy weather, high winds and very heavy rainfall during the lancing period adversely affect the quantity and quality of opium yield [17]. Water stress can affect the alkaloid production during various developmental stages of poppy plants, with sufficient supply water being beneficial for alkaloid accumulation in the capsules, while drought can increase the level of certain alkaloids. Nitrogen fertilization can elevate alkaloid accumulation [18] only under excessive light conditions, while severe drought can reduce the accumulation of morphinans [19].

 

Under pressure of the Nixon administration’s “war on drugs”, a crackdown on poppy cultivation was undertaken by the Thai government, deeming it illegal to grow the crop, with a reported drop in production from well over 10000 ha in 1961 to under 300 ha in 2015 [20]. Subsequent research and development of geographically suitable alternative crops and other incentives meant that the small landholders were dissuaded to cultivate the crop. This illegal status of the poppy crop meant that no substantial researches could be conducted about the plant and its medical benefits in Thailand. Additionally, there is almost no data about the morphological traits of poppy in Thailand and the herbarium specimens already outdated. With proven benefits of poppy already reported, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, Thailand plans to study poppy for further usage in the pharmaceutical industry. In light of that effort, this study is a first comprehensive study of its kind reporting on the morphological characteristics of poppy growing naturally in Thailand. Thus, this study will add to the fundamental knowledge about the species in Thailand for future uses in the medical industry.

Respond to Reviewer 2

Line	Original	Corrections
20	the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) conservation assessment	We deleted this part
34–35	Keywords: I suggest deleting both, as they are in the title.	We deleted the word “Anatomy” and “taxonomy” in the keywords.
43–49	The genus….	We confirm that these characteristics suitable for the genus.
50–89	Introduction page 2	We add four paragraphs and nine references [12–20].
109	Please reference the figures here.	2.1.1. Papaver somniferum L., Sp. Pl. 1: 508. 1753. (Figures 1–9).
119	Delete Habit	We deleted “Habit”.
121	Unnecessary. and fruit stalks (fruits having distinct latex color).	We deleted “and fruit stalks (fruits having distinct latex color)”.
123	Delete terete; It is the same as cylindrical.	We deleted “terete”.
125	Unnecessary. All the leaves come from the stem.	We would like to retain the word “cauline”, it is significant character for this grass species.
125	Delete (pinnatifid); It is the same as pinnately lobed.	We deleted “(pinnatifid)”.
128	both surfaces glabrous and glaucous	glabrous and glaucous on both surfaces
133	Delete (a single flower); It is the same as solitary.	We deleted “(a single flower)”.
133	Delete (radially symmetrical); It is the same as actinomorphic.	We deleted “(radially symmetrical)”.
138–139	Delete (sepals falling off before being fully opened flowers)	We would like to retain (sepals falling off before being fully opened flowers). Caducous is different from “sepals falling off before being fully opened flowers.”
144	-	We add “Figures 6–9”.
200	Figure 1 (A) Delete stem, leaves, flower bud, opened flower, and fruit	We add “fertile branch”.
200	Figure 1 (B) Delete opened	We deleted “opened”.
205–206	Figure 1 (p. 4)	We add Materials from C. Ngernsaengsaruay et al. Ps03-06012023 (BKF) and C. Ngernsaengsaruay et al. Ps04-06012023 (BKF).
255	Figure 2 (A–B) Delete stems, leaves and flowers	We deleted “stems, leaves and flowers”.
255	Figure 2 (C) underground system ?	It is taproot.
255–256	Figure 2 (D–G)	(D–G) leaf shapes: lanceolate, lanceolate-ovate, ovate, and broadly ovate
284	-	We add “593–4685 seeds per capsule,”
288	Delete Variability in the color and morphological characteristics of the flowers of Papaver somniferum is shown in Table 1,	We deleted “Variability in the color and morphological characteristics of the flowers of Papaver somniferum is shown in Table 1,”
290	Reduce this part significantly, leaving only what is essential for species recognition. As it is, it repeats the description of the species for the most part.	We deleted “all paragraph of Recognition.”
291		We deleted “(stiff hairs)”.
292		We deleted “pinnately lobed”.
292–293		We deleted “(deeply pinnately lobed)”.
300–311	Distribution	We cited the literature. Should be not shorten.
	Figure 2 (p. 5), Figure 3 (p.7), Figure 4 (p. 8)	We would like to retain Figure 2, 3, and 4 showing vegetative and reproductive parts.
	Figure 5 (p. 9)	To show number of stigma lobes per flower, it is easy to read.
	Table 1 (p. 9)	We would like to retain Table 1 because the description no detail about variability in the flower color and also easy to read. Cannot deleted.
	Figure 6 (p. 10), 7 (p. 11), 8 (p. 12), 9 (p. 13)	We would like to retain Figure 6, 7, 8, and 9 to show variability in the color of the petals (flowers), outer pair petal, inner pair petal, and morphological characteristics
	Table 2 (p. 14)	We would like to retain Table 2 showing sample size, range and mean ± SD, it is easy to read.
783–784	Pollinator	We add reference “using online database [31]”,
927	Stem anatomy	We add “are circular outline and” in the first paragraph. We have already mentioned about below epidermis; number of parenchyma layer; vascular bundle type; and pith (We highlighted in blue).
936	Leaf lamina anatomy	We have already mentioned as your comments.
946	Transverse section of leaf lamina	We deleted “bifacial, and is protected by the cuticle”.
	Figure 12 (p. 20)	We changed photos.
1034	Figure 12 (D) adaxial epidermis	epidermal cells on the adaxial surface showing polygonal shape
1034–1035	Figure 12 (E–I) abaxial epidermis	epidermal cells on the abaxial surface showing polygonal and irregular shapes
	Figure 13 (p. 21)	We changed photos.
1086, 1089	Figure 13 (C–D)	(C–E)
1087–1088	Figure 13	Materials from C. Ngernsaengsaruay et al. Ps03-06012023 (BKF) and C. Ngernsaengsaruay et al. Ps04-06012023 (BKF)
1122–1126	Discussion. Shorten this paragraph.	We deleted “sometimes oblate spheroidal” in this paragraph.
1127–1134	Discussion.	We deleted “P diameter with a mean of 31.14 ± 3.35 µm; E diameter with a mean of 30.20 ± 3.33 µm; amb diameter with a mean of 30.65 ± 3.35 µm; colpus length with a mean of 21.77 ± 3.96 µm; colpus width with a mean of 11.06 ± 1.86 µm; and exine thickness with a mean of 2.02 ± 0.39 µm.” in this paragraph.
1123	Acknowledgments	We deleted “This research was funded by Office of the Narcotics Control Board, Ministry of Justice.”
1173	Conclusions	We deleted four paragraphs of conclusions. We rewrite three paragraphs of conclusions

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors responded to most of my suggestions for adjustments and/or modifications. Therefore, I agree with the publication of the manuscript.

Yours sincerely