I'm pretty sure it's the same plant! Just sold under these two names. Looking in Rick Darke's book 'The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses' It's listed as the same!
Have a fun time growing this beautiful giant!
Best Regards,
Anthony in TN.

This is what was said on floridata:
Striped giant reed (A. donax var. versicolor, also known as cv. 'Variegata', has leaves with bold white stripes, and is a smaller plant, to 8 ft (2.4 m) tall. The cultivar, 'Macrophylla' has larger leaves, to 3 in (7.6 cm) wide, that are grayish or bluish green.

thanks but it is really odd that joy creek and other list both - joy even has two different pictures.

do you grow either? Macrophylla sounds interesting.

can anyone reccomend a good online source for them?

I just bought the common type this year. If it survives the winter I may look into the different cultivars. Or I might try and get the different species like Arundo formosana, which is supposedly hardier.