Plant study by staff after record's retrieved (9)
I believe the answer is:
goldenrod
'plant' is the definition.
The answer is an example.
'study by staff after record's retrieved' is the wordplay.
'study by' becomes 'den' (I've seen this before. I am not sure about the 'by' bit.**).
'staff' becomes 'rod' (I've seen this before).
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'record' becomes 'log' (logging is a kind of recording).
'retrieved' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'log' in reverse letter order is 'gol'.
'den'+'rod'='denrod'
'denrod' put after 'gol' is 'GOLDENROD'.
(Other definitions for goldenrod that I've seen before include "Plant with tall spikes of yellow flowers" , "Yellow-headed garden plant" , "Yellow-flowered plant" , "bloomer" , "Autumnal flower" .)