Crossword Genius

Earth possibly reduced grass and other plant life (5,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

plane tree

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'other plant life' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how they can define each other.

'earth possibly reduced grass' is the wordplay.
'earth possibly' becomes 'planet' (Earth is an example).
'reduced' means to remove the last letter.
'grass' becomes 'reed' (type of grass plant).
'reed' with its last letter taken off is 'ree'.
'planet'+'ree'='PLANE-TREE'

'and' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for plane tree that I've seen before include "It sheds its bark" , "growth" , "maple" , "Common city plant" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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