Plant beginning to suffer after climate changes (8)
I believe the answer is:
clematis
'plant' is the definition.
(type of plant)
'beginning to suffer after climate changes' is the wordplay.
'beginning to' says to take the initial letters.
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'changes' indicates an anagram.
The first letter of 'suffer' is 's'.
'climate' anagrammed gives 'clemati'.
's' after 'clemati' is 'CLEMATIS'.
(Other definitions for clematis that I've seen before include "Garden climber" , "Climates (anag)" , "Where man meets machine" , "it may cover walls" , "Ornamental climbing plant" .)