Taste (SA) from the oral part of the tongue is carried into the central nervous system by the facial nerve [VII]. Special sensory (SA) fibers of the facial nerve [VII] leave the tongue and oral cavity as part of the lingual nerve. The fibers then enter the chorda tympani nerve, which is a branch of the facial nerve [VII] that joins the lingual nerve in the infratemporal fossa (Fig. 8.262; also see p. 976).