Meso- or xeromorphic? Foliar characters of Asteraceae in a xeric scrub of Mexico

Botanical Studies

Table 2 Eigenvector for principal component analysis for the 11 variables in the first four components analyzed for the leaf traits of the 52 species of Asteraceae at the REPSA, Mexico

Characters	Prin 1	Prin 2	Prin 3	Prin 4
Variation explained (%)	28.48	17.11	13.15	10.28
Eigenvalue	3.42	2.05	1.48	1.23
Lamina size	−0.127	0.332	0.455	−0.664
Specific leaf area	−0.216	−0.176	0.029	0.489
Sclerophyll index	−0.197	0.332	0.455	−0.066
Lamina thickness	−0.144	−0.134	0.575	−0.024
Cuticle thickness	−0.016	0.294	−0.058	−0.430
Abaxial epidermis height	0.426	0.059	0.278	0.127
Stomatal density	−0.159	0.518	−0.137	0.214
Guard cell length	0.281	−0.487	0.133	−0.195
Mesophyll thickness	0.510	0.075	0.054	0.142
Palisade thickness	0.216	0.455	0.067	0.204
Spongy thickness	0.138	−0.105	−0.524	0.269