Balsa broken near plant stem (5)
I believe the answer is:
basal
'balsa broken near plant stem' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'balsa broken' is the wordplay.
'broken' indicates an anagram.
'balsa' is an anagram of 'BASAL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for basal that I've seen before include "Fundamental" , "forming a foundation" , "bottom layer perhaps" , "At the lowest level" .)