A container like this 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 needed' is the wordplay.
'container' becomes 'can' (can is a kind of container**).
'like this' becomes 'thus' (I've seen this before).
'needed' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'a'+'can'+'thus'='ACANTHUS'
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for acanthus that I've seen before include "Prickly-leaved plant" , "Bush?" , "Cash, aunt, for this plant" , "Widely grown Mediterranean plant with spiny leaves" , "Growth" .)