Heather starts every row, irritating calm academic (5)

I believe the answer is:

erica

'heather' is the definition.
(the plant genus Erica includes heather plants)

'starts every row irritating calm academic' is the wordplay.
'starts' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letters of 'every row irritating calm academic' is 'ERICA'.

(Other definitions for erica that I've seen before include "Shrubs" , "Girl - heather" , "Heathland shrub; girl's name" , "ling" , "Plant genus of garden heather" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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