In 2019, Professor Achim Mehlhorn and Professor Hans Müller-Steinhagen jointly collected donations to mark their milestone birthdays. Following completion of the renovation of the Fritz Foerster Building, six sponsored trees, including a Norway maple, were planted in the newly designed inner courtyard.

The Norway maple is a deciduous, broad-crowned leaf tree that can grow to a height of 20 to 30 meters. It can reach an age of about 150 to a maximum of 200 years.

Against the backdrop of increasingly dry summers resulting from climate change, the Norway maple is regarded as a suitable tree for dry and very dry locations and has an increasingly important role in forest restructuring. Due to its resistance to industrial pollution, it is often used to provide greenery in urban areas. The flowering period lasts from April to May and begins before the budding of the leaves. As an important nutrient plant for bees, butterflies and birds, the Norway maple fulfills valuable ecological functions.