[TA] the deepest of the three layers of the cortex; it contains large numbers of granule cells, the dendrites of which synapse with incoming mossy fibers in cerebellar glomeruli. Thin, unmyelinated axons of granule cells ascend perpendicularly into the molecular layer in which they bifurcate into fibers coursing parallel to the long axis of the cerebellar folia. Parallel fibers form numerous synapses with the dendrites of Purkinje cells, basket cells, and stellate cells. SYN: granular layer of cerebellar cortex [TA], stratum granulosum corticis cerebelli [TA].