A container like this is needed for prickly plant (8)
I believe the answer is:
acanthus
'prickly plant' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a container like this is needed' is the wordplay.
'container' becomes 'can' (can is a kind of container).
'like this' becomes 'thus' (I've seen this before).
'is needed' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'a'+'can'+'thus'='ACANTHUS'
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for acanthus that I've seen before include "Kind of leaves" , "Bush?" , "Leaves carved on a Corinthian column" , "capital decoration" , "Widely grown Mediterranean plant with spiny leaves" .)