The dataset includes information on 8,124 mushroom samples from 23 species of gilled mushrooms listed in Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms (1981). In the Field Guide, each of the mushroom species is identified "definitely edible," "definitely poisonous," or "likely poisonous, and not recommended to be eaten." For the purposes of this dataset, the latter group was combined with the "definitely poisonous" group to make two classes: poisonous and nonpoisonous.The data dictionary available on the UCI website describes the 22 features of the mushroom samples, including characteristics such as cap shape, cap color, odor, gill size and color, stalk shape, and habitat.