Ossification of sphenoid

The palatine bone is ossified in membrane from a single center, which makes its appearance about the sixth or eighth week of fetal life at the angle of junction of the two parts of the bone.

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From this point ossification spreads medialward to the horizontal part, downward into the pyramidal process, and upward into the vertical part.

Some authorities describe the bone as ossifying from four centers: one for the pyramidal process and portion of the vertical part behind the pterygopalatine groove; a second for the rest of the vertical and the horizontal parts; a third for the orbital, and a fourth for the sphenoidal process.

At the time of birth the height of the vertical part is about equal to the transverse width of the horizontal part, whereas in the adult the former measures about twice as much as the latter.