A flower sprang up (5)
I believe the answer is:
arose
'sprang up' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a flower' is the wordplay.
'flower' becomes 'rose' (I've seen this before**).
'a'+'rose'='AROSE'
(Other definitions for arose that I've seen before include "''. ... by any other name would smell as sweet'' (Romeo and Juliet)" , "Sprang up" , "Became apparent" , "stemmed" , "Got out of bed" .)