Crossword Genius

Ask for assistance reportedly for ocean vegetation (3,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sea kelp

'ask for assistance reportedly' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.

'ocean vegetation' is the wordplay.
'ocean' becomes 'sea' (synonyms).
'vegetation' becomes 'kelp' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'sea'+'kelp'='SEA KELP'

'for' is the link.

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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