Sacrum a lateral surface. The base of the sacrum, which is broad and expanded, is directed upward and forward. On either side of the base is a large projection known as an ala of sacrum and these alae (wings) articulate with the sacroiliac joints. The alae support the psoas major muscles and the lumbosacral trunk which connects the lumbar plexus with the sacral plexus. In the articulated pelvis the alae are continuous with the iliac fossa. Each ala is slightly concave from side to side, and convex from the back and gives attachment to a few of the fibers of the
Body of sphenoid bone groove, in the angle between the body and greater wing, is a ridge of bone, called the sphenoidal lingula. The posterior surface, quadrilateral in form [Fig. 3], is joined, during infancy and adolescence, to the basilar part of the occipital bone by a plate of cartilage. Between the eighteenth and twenty-fifth years this becomes ossified, ossification commencing above and extending downward. The anterior surface of the body [Fig. 2] presents, in the middle line, a vertical crest, the sphenoidal crest, which articulates with the perpendicular plate of the ethmoid, and forms part of the nasal septum. On either side of