Climber from Iowa with name in Californian city (5)
I believe the answer is:
liana
'climber' is the definition.
(climbing plant)
'iowa with name in californian city' is the wordplay.
'iowa' becomes 'IA' (standard US state two-letter abbreviation).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'name' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation e.g. on forms).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'californian city' becomes 'la'.
'ia'+'n'='ian'
'ian' inserted within 'la' is 'LIANA'.
'from' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for liana that I've seen before include "Jungle creeper" , "climber in the tropics" , "Woody forest climber" , "Jungle climber" , "Climbing-plant" .)