Leaves the broken plates (6)
I believe the answer is:
petals
'leaves' is the definition.
(petal is a kind of leaf)
'broken plates' is the wordplay.
'broken' indicates an anagram.
'plates' anagrammed gives 'PETALS'.
'the' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for petals that I've seen before include "Outer parts of flowers" , "Flower parts on plates" , "Parts of flowers in pastel" , "Plates (anag.)" , "Palest parts of flowers" .)