Mary's then desperately hugged by friend in plant (13)
I believe the answer is:
chrysanthemum
'in plant' is the definition.
'chrysanthemum' can be an answer for 'plant' (I've seen this before). I'm unsure of the 'in' bit.
'mary's then desperately hugged by friend' is the wordplay.
'desperately' indicates anagramming the letters.
'hugged by' indicates putting letters inside (I've seen this in other clues).
'friend' becomes 'chum' (chum is a kind of friend**).
'marys'+'then'='marysthen'
'marysthen' is an anagram of 'rysanthem'.
'rysanthem' placed inside 'chum' is 'CHRYSANTHEMUM'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for chrysanthemum that I've seen before include "Popular garden flower" , "Bright garden flower" , "Ornamental plant" , "Flower depicted on Japanese Imperial flag" , "Common garden plant" .)