Superbloom in Death Valley National Park, Feb. 6, 2016.

Every spring, enthusiasts cross their fingers hoping for a wildflower “superbloom,” bringing colorful hillsides across California’s landscape. This year, it’s true — sort of.

Wildflowers are having an excellent year in Death Valley National Park and other state and national parks across California, and the term “superbloom” is getting tossed around liberally. But according to experts interviewed by SFGATE, there’s no concrete way to define the phenomenon. And even if there were, some find the term problematic altogether.

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The Mojave Desert Land Trust said “a superbloom is loosely defined as a rare occurrence in which an abundance of desert wildflowers blossom at the same time.” But then again, that depends on what you’d call an abundance. 

“Whether it rises to the status of a superbloom is in the eye of the beholder,” Naomi Fraga, a botanist and the director of conservation programs at the California Botanic Garden and an associate professor of botany at Claremont Graduate University, told SFGATE in an email. 

Although........

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