The tree is a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), 25 metres (82 ft) tall, and as its name suggests, consists of three main branches or trunks rising from a common base.

[2] The tree previously dominated the valley's farmed and grazed land, due to its height and full foliage, and was visible from a long distance, as is shown in old photographs.

However, much of the surrounding land has now been taken over by forest, and Pi de les Tres Branques now has many other trees in its vicinity, which, together with its current skeletal form, make it much less visible than before.

Although legend places the tree much earlier, it has been estimated that Pi de les Tres Branques took root between 1630 and 1632, when the local farmhouse was built.

[1] In 1876, the landowner of the site, in a letter to a local magazine denying that he was planning to sell the tree for timber, pointed out that it also represented the revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity.

In his poem, Jacint Verdaguer created the so-called 'legend'[1] of the king-child King James I of Aragon who after being released from captivity in Narbonne (France) travelled with his retinue through Catalonia back to his seat at Monzón in Aragon, supposedly spending one of the nights sleeping under Pi de les Tres Branques, and it was there that he had an inspirational dream that he was destined to rule three kingdoms, represented by the three trunks of the tree, conquering the Balearic Islands and the Kingdom of Valencia from the Moors,[9][10] which in fact he later achieved.

Lo Campllong té com un breç dues serres per barana, per coberta un bosc de pins verds tot l'any com l'esmaragda.

Don Jaume cau de genolls i en son èxtasis exclama: —Al Pare, Fill i Esperit per tots los segles hosanna!

Alça els ulls a l'Infinit que obira en sa tenda blava clavetejada d'estels i al cim lluna minvanta.

En dolça contemplació lo sorprèn lo bes de l'alba; al bes de l'alba i al seu don Jaume se desvetllava: —He somniat que era gran i d'un bell país monarca, d'un bell país com aqueix entre el mar i la muntanya.

Mes al veure desvetllar lo lligador d'eixa garba, profeta, al Conqueridor sols li diu eixa paraula: —Preguem, que sols Déu és gran, los homes són ombra vana; preguem que sia aqueix Pi l'arbre sagrat de la pàtria.— We pray that this Pine will be the sacred tree of the fatherland.

Where the Llobregat descends from the Pyrenees to the plain, Sir William of Mont-rodon goes down at break of day, surrounded by counts and dukes in a pompous cavalcade.

On the pillion of the high saddle, over an arabesque blanket, sits James our king; he wears no more crown than that of his golden hair that some angel has loaned him.

The biggest crown of all is a beautiful Great Pine, other trees look like mushrooms around their overlord, giantess of the Pyrenees who has rivers of sap for blood.

three persons and only one God who has put his signature here, like on the tree of Mamre where Abraham rested.— Making the sign of the cross he rests against the Great Pine, and the sleep of paradise descends on his eyelids.

[13] It starts and ends with the often-quoted lines "Preguem que sia aqueix Pi / l'arbre sagrat de la pàtria."

[6]: 4 In May 1901 the landowner transferred ownership of the tree to the Unió Catalanista, a grouping of various nationalist organisations, at their meeting in Terrassa, though the transaction was never legally registered.

In 1939, after the end of the Civil War, supporters of the victorious Nationalist faction started an attempt to topple the tree, but were repelled by local people.

[28] At the 1921 rally at the site, following a campaign by poet-politician Ventura Gassol, Pi Jove was inaugurated as the successor to the then-dead main tree.

Speaking at the event, Gassol invited the landowner, who was present, to donate the tree to the Commonwealth of Catalonia (a semi-recognised autonomous government), but he declined, saying that practical effort is more important than symbols.

[14]: 3 The next major rally was held in 1921, on 25 July, the St. James holiday;[6]: 7  a key point of that event included the inauguration of Pi Jove as the intended replacement for the original tree.

[38] It attracts Catalan nationalists of many different viewpoints, including those attending a mass, political activists from the entire nationalist spectrum left and right giving speeches, organisations hosting stands and selling political books and souvenirs, and performers of traditional Catalan cultural activities such as sardana bands and dancers, castellers (human towers), and gegants (giant puppets).

Following the 1981 event, the Catalan parliament president Heribert Barrera, two parliamentary deputies, and several others, faced criminal charges of "insulting the feelings and unity of the Spanish nation and distributing illegal publications".

Around 1990, a private business identified the Campllong valley, with Pi de les Tres Branques as a central attraction, as one of the possible locations for a large-scale Catalan-identity theme park called "Identirama".

A government report in 2001, re-published in 2004, included a proposal to cut down the fragile Pi Vell, leaving the stump in place along with a commemorative monument, and purchase and develop the site as a public amenity.

In 2012 the mayor announced plans to take over the maintenance of the land around the two trees and develop facilities for visitors, including a car park and information panels.

[48] In March 2015, following the serious attack on Pi Vell ten months before, the government set up a working group consisting of representatives of the Barcelona provincial administration, the local municipality, and the Institute of Catalan Studies, to manage the maintenance and protection of the two trees.

[50] In recent times, local bodies such as the municipality of Castellar del Riu or Berga or the local branch of the Catalan National Assembly, have adopted the practice of presenting a young three-branched pine tree or sapling claimed to be a descendant of Pi de les Tres Branques to other bodies, as symbols of solidarity.