BSI & Cultivar Registration

The BSITHE BSI

The BSI (Bromeliad Society International) is the international society for bromeliad growers and researchers. It was organised on 17 September 1950 in Glendale, California, with Mulford B. Foster as its first president.

Its purpose is to promote and maintain public and scientific interest in bromeliads — species and hybrids alike — and to support their research, preservation, and distribution. There is no central office and no full-time staff: the society is run by volunteers, and its members and affiliated societies span more than fifty countries.

What the BSI DoesWHAT THE BSI DOES

Its journal, the Journal of the Bromeliad Society, appears every two months. First issued in 1951 as the Bulletin, it carries new species descriptions, cultivation records, and news from societies around the world; the back issues are kept in a public archive.

Every two years an affiliated society hosts the World Bromeliad Conference — talks, garden tours, and plant sales, plus the rare-plant auctions the conference is known for, whose proceeds support the Identification Center among other work.

The society also runs a Seed Fund distributing seed to members, the Mulford B. Foster Bromeliad Identification Center at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida, which accepts unidentified species for identification, shows held around the country and the training of accredited judges, and research grants supporting study and conservation.

The Cultivar RegisterTHE CULTIVAR REGISTER

The BCR (Bromeliad Cultivar Register) is the official register of bromeliad hybrids and cultivars, maintained by the BSI. The BSI is the only International Cultivar Registration Authority (ICRA) appointed by the ISHS for the bromeliad family.

Its purpose is the uniformity, accuracy, and stability of names. Each entry records the cultivar name together with the breeder, the parentage, a description, and photographs. Registration is a different system from patents or from plant variety protection under Japan's Plant Variety Protection and Seeds Act: it grants no exclusive right to sell. Its value is in fixing a name.

The register was long compiled in book form — the edition Don Beadle compiled in 1998 became its foundation — and it is now published online, searchable by cultivar name and breeder.

Registered DyckiaREGISTERED DYCKIA

Dyckia registrations begin with American breeders. Bill Baker's ‘Warren’ (BCR #2394), ‘Brittle Star’ (#2335), and ‘Heaven and Hell’ (#10296), and R. Spivey's ‘Avalanche’ (#2329), are among the early entries that went on to be used widely as parents in later crosses. In our own records, ‘Heaven and Hell’ turns up in many a cross formula.

Registrations from Thailand followed — Sueb Anyamaneetrakul's ‘Nagas’ (#14330; Reg. Doc. by Paradon Sela) and ‘Diamond Praw’ (#15707), and Chanin Thorut's ‘Sky Walker’ (#11374). In Brazil, Constantino handled the registration documents for ‘Spider Witch’ (#10166); the people breeding and registering Dyckia are spread across many countries.

There are registrations from Japan as well: ‘Chicago’ (#16428, the plant pictured at the top), ‘Barracuda’ (#15480), and ‘Crystal Boy’ (#14857). ‘Jaws’ (#14722) is a different kind of case: a plant widely grown in Japan whose origin was unrecorded, registered in 2018 by an enthusiast — the register acting as the record of last resort for a circulating name.

The Bromeliad Society of JapanTHE BROMELIAD SOCIETY OF JAPAN

The Bromeliad Society of Japan (BSJ) is Japan's bromeliad society, and an affiliated society of the BSI since 2000. Its members range from beginners who simply love bromeliads to experts engaged in academic research on the family.

Its activities — sharing information, garden visits, plant exchanges, lectures, and a journal — are aimed at better growing and wider appreciation of bromeliads. The calendar includes the spring, summer, and autumn Bromeliad Festa events, BSJ Meetings held in different cities, and the year-end general meeting; the society journal reached issue 59 in 2025.

The BSJ has no cultivar-registration system of its own: registration is with the BCR. Its journal and events complement registration as the place where a new cultivar is presented and passed around.

LinksLINKS

• Bromeliad Society International — the society, its journal, the World Conference, the Seed Fund
• Bromeliad Cultivar Register — search the register
• The Bromeliad Society of Japan — event calendar and journal (in Japanese)