A plant initially concealed a pest (5)
I believe the answer is:
aphid
'a pest' is the definition.
(aphid is a type of pest)
'a plant initially concealed' is the wordplay.
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
'concealed' becomes 'hid' ('hide' can be a synonym of 'conceal').
The initial letter of 'plant' is 'p'.
'a'+'p'+'hid'='APHID'
(Other definitions for aphid that I've seen before include "Garden bug" , "Small insect like greenfly" , "Blackfly or greenfly" , "Plant louse" , "Fly" .)