Untouched as plant in midwinter? (9)
I believe the answer is:
inviolate
'untouched' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'plant in midwinter?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'plant' could be 'viola' (viola is a kind of plant) and 'viola' is found in the answer.
'in' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'te' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
'as' is the link.
(Other definitions for inviolate that I've seen before include "not to be touched" , "Entire" , "completely untouched" , "Undamaged" , "kept free from damage" .)