I cut away a sucker from a friend's garden about a year ago. She has since lost her original plant. (The neighbor's herbicide drifted. What a heartbreak.) Her home's former owner was the "camellia queen" here in our town, and I have a feeling this plant is something very special. It's definitely not a japonica. The leaves look like my Donation, but a deeper green, and it's habit is unusual. The branches grow straight out from the trunk, horizontal to the ground. It's too small to bloom yet, but it is growing much more rapidly than my japonicas do. The blooms are a formal double and are a rich wine (not purple and not red. Wine.) color.

Does anyone have any idea what it might be, or can you recommend a source whereby I might identify it?