518
M. Daszykowski et al.
nal vectors, and thus each consecutive PC models a part of the Information not explained by its predecessors. The PCA model with/principal compo-nents, constructed for any data matm X(m * n), can be represented as:
X = TP7 + E (3)
where T(m * y) is the matrix of scores, P(n * f) is the matrix of loadings, E(m * ń) is the residual matm, containing information that was not mod-elled using the PCA model with / principal components, and superscript T denotes transposition of the matrix.
In the course of running PCA, the original data are decomposed into a set of scores and loadings which can be used to visualize and interpret the data structure. Therefore, the set of scores and loadings can also be re-garded as a new coordinate system. The score plots (constructed as projec-tions of samples on to the piane defined by selected pairs of PCs) enables study of similarities among the samples, whereas the loading plots (repre-senting the projections of the variables on the planes of selected PCs) give information about contribution of individual data variables to a given PC. When two samples are similar chemically, they are also close to each other on the score plot. High similarity between two experimental variables is manifested on a loading plot by a smali angle between the two vectors of weights. Their starting points are located at the origin of a principal components system whereas their end points are dehned by the corresponding weight values for a selected pair of PCs.
Samples of the twenty different sagę (Salvia L.) species investigated in this study were collected m the Pharmacognosy Garden of the Medical Univer-sity, Lublin, Poland, in August, 2007. Botany specialists identified each species and voucher specimens were deposited in the herbarium of the Department of Pharmacognosy, Medical University, Lublin. The sagę species investigated are listed in Tobie 1. Plant materiał was dried at 35 to 40°C for 40 h in an oven with forced air flow and the dry materiał obtained was stored under refrigeration until required for analysis.