an artery of the brain that arises from the terminal bifurcation of the
basilar artery and passes above the
oculomotor nerve to curve around the midbrain above the level of the
tentorium cerebelli. Its branches supply blood to the region of the
third ventricle, including the thalamus and choroid plexus, the occipital lobe and the inferior surface of the temporal lobe, and the lingual, fusiform, and inferior temporal gyri.