Area yielded a variety of succulent (5)
I believe the answer is:
agave
'succulent' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'area yielded' is the wordplay.
'area' becomes 'a' (maths abbreviation).
'yielded' becomes 'gave' ('give' can be a synonym of 'yield').
'a'+'gave'='AGAVE'
'a variety of' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for agave that I've seen before include "Succulent; daughter of Cadmus" , "Tropical plant" , "source of tequila" , "Plant, source of sisal" , "Succulent plant" .)