A new panel is in place at the Australian National Botanic Gardens to honour Australian scientist Dr Max Day.

The plaque celebrates Dr Day’s ground-breaking work on the mystery of the scribbly gum’s iconic scribbles.

“In the botanic gardens here the work was undertaken into how the scribbles appear on the trunks of the eucalypts we call scribbly gums,” said Dr Judy West, executive director of the botanic gardens.

Dr Day's discovered that the scribbles are carved by the larvae of moths digging beneath the bark, and that they become visible when the bark peels.

“Max started doing the research work here in the gardens and that's the significance of it from our point of view,” Dr West said.

“That's why we wanted to honour him with the plaque, especially as he is 100 years old.”

Dr Day had a total of 98 academic papers published over his 74 year career.

In fact, his most recent scribbly gum moth research was published in 2012.

Even after all of that, he said he was honoured by the unveiling.

“It's an extraordinary occasion indeed,” Dr Day said.

He described the Australian National Botanic Gardens as “a special place” to him.