The bluest one of the Borindas is Borinda papyrifera.
Collected from mount Zi Ben Shan at around 3000 metres growing in mixed conifer and broadleaved woodland by Chris Stapleton in 1995 who was with Edinburgh Botanical Gardens at the time. Cultivation did not really start until 2004 because of a lack of plant material to propagate from. It has proved hardy through the winter of 2010/11 near Ludlow on a hillside facing East where temperatures were -15c and were never above zero for 6 weeks.
The culms are upright and thick walled and can get to 5 cm diameter. The blue colour is from the silca bloom on the new stems which lasts for 2 years.
It is a fast performer in developing tall new culms very quickly once established. Can reach around 6 metres in height.