  This paper explores the integrated-light characteristics of the Milky Way
(MW) bulge and to what extent they match those of elliptical galaxies in the
local universe. We model composite stellar populations with realistic abundance
distribution functions (ADFs), tracking the trends of individual elements as a
function of overall heavy element abundance as actually observed in MW bulge
stars. The resultant predictions for absorption feature strengths from the MW
bulge mimic elliptical galaxies better than solar neighborhood stars do, but
the MW bulge does not match elliptical galaxies, either. Comparing bulge versus
elliptical galaxies, Fe, Ti, and Mg trend about the same for both but C, Na,
and Ca seem irreconcilably different.
  Exploring the behavior of abundance compositeness leads to the concepts of
"red lean" where a narrower ADF appears more metal rich than a wide one, and
"red spread" where the spectral difference between wide and narrow ADFs
increases as the ADF peak is moved to more metal-rich values. Tests on the
systematics of recovering abundance, abundance pattern, and age from composite
stellar populations using single stellar population models were performed. The
chemical abundance pattern was recovered adequately, though a few minor
systematic effects were uncovered. The prospects of measuring the width of the
ADF of an old stellar population were investigated and seem bright using UV to
IR photometry.
