The lateral olfactory stria is directed across the lateral part of the anterior perforated substance and then bends abruptly medialward toward the uncus of the hippocampal gyrus.

It lies in the olfactory sulcus on the inferior surface of the frontal lobe, and divides posteriorly into two striæ, a medial olfactory stria and a lateral olfactory stria.

One definition includes the olfactory bulb, olfactory tract, anterior olfactory nucleus, anterior perforated substance, medial olfactory stria, lateral olfactory stria, parts of the amygdala and prepyriform area.