The IXL almond is a delicious, sweet, nutty and soft shelled (easy to crack) almond. In the late 1800's it was considered to be of the same superior quality as the Non Pariel. The Non Pariel and the IXL almond were both produced from the same seed lot that A.T. Hatch planted in Vacaville, California in 1879. So they are sister almonds. It is known to be a heavy cropper and partially self fertile.

The grandmother is a tough tree still thriving on the side of the road near Colfax, Placer County CA at 2400'. The untended tree has been hacked back severely but survives and produces nuts even though there is no other pollinator almond in the area.

Colfax was named after then Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax who visited the town in 1865 while inspecting progress on the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad, the western portion of the first transcontinental railroad. The city was the southern terminus of the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad from 1876 until the railroad’s removal in 1942. Historic U.S. Route 40 also runs through the city as well as the more modern Interstate 80. The city is mentioned in Jules Verne’s book, Around the World in Eighty Days.