Beg to remove London area tree (5)
I believe the answer is:
beech
'tree' is the definition.
(I know that beech is a type of tree)
'beg to remove london area' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'area' could be 'ec' and 'ec' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for beech that I've seen before include "Tree (with green or copper leaves)" , "Deciduous tree with smooth grey bark" , "Wood" , "Common forest tree" , "Tree of Fagus genus" .)