There has long been confusion about the identification of two arboreal yuccas that grow commonly here in southern California. The largest of the two, with large swollen basal stems and 1 ft long light green leaves with a soft tip and small marginal teeth, is considered to be Yucca elephantipes by the local street tree books but has been commonly called Yucca gloriosa in the nursery trade. The other plant which has larger more luxurious leaves and heavy stems without as much basal swelling has been commonly referred to as Yucca elephantipes. To avoid the discussion regarding nursery nomenclature, I will submit that much of the nursery industry gets it wrong much of the time. That being said however, there were enough discrepancies in the written reference material on these plants that we decided to go with the flow and continue to call the shorter leaved heavier stemmed plant Yucca gloriosa while calling the larger leaved one Yucca elephantipes. After many years of urging by friends more knowledgeable than I on this subject, coupled with David Ferguson's comments in the Vol.73 of the Cactus & Succulent Journal and posts on the subject on the Agave usenet we have decided to change our listing for the plant we had long called Yucca gloriosa to Yucca elephantipes. I was somewhat reluctant to do this as I knew it would cause some confusion with our customers. To make it clear that we were still growing the same plant as before I now list it as "Yucca elephantipes [Y. gloriosa, Hort.]". I am fine with the decision to call this plant by this "new" name but I have already been asked by customers the very question that puzzles me. What is the yucca we had long referred to as Yucca elephantipes? It does not resemble the description that is usually given for Yucca gloriosa. The plant has 3-4 feet long by up to 4 inch wide leaves and like Y. elephantipes it is flexile and has a soft tip and small marginal teeth. The lower surface of the leaves are roughly the same color and texture as what we now call Yucca elephantipes but the leaf size and the glossy darker green upper surface are very different. These plants are both growing in Santa Barbara in very similar conditions so this is not a case of how a plant performs in one climate vs another as has been suggested in usenet discussions on Yucca elephantipes. These are two distinctly different plants.