Plant in vessel with a short lid (6)
I believe the answer is:
potato
'plant' is the definition.
(potato is a kind of plant)
'vessel with a short lid' is the wordplay.
'vessel' becomes 'pot' (pot is a kind of vessel**).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'short' means to remove the last letter.
'lid' becomes 'top'.
'top' with its last letter taken off is 'to'.
'pot'+'a'+'to'='POTATO'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for potato that I've seen before include "The veg is too apt, oddly" , "Root vegetable" , "The humble spud" , "Starchy vegetable" , "Tuber, popular in Ireland" .)