Aquatic plant identified by many around university (5)
I believe the answer is:
lotus
'aquatic plant' is the definition.
(lotus is a kind of aquatic plant)
'many around university' is the wordplay.
'many' becomes 'lots' (I've seen this before**).
'around' is an insertion indicator.
'university' becomes 'u'.
'lots' placed around 'u' is 'LOTUS'.
'identified by' is the link.
(Other definitions for lotus that I've seen before include "TREE" , "Mythical fruit inducing dreamy state" , "Water lily - fruit inducing forgetfulness" , "Large water lily" , "Mythical plant inducing languor" .)