Pungent plant the Italian found in rock climbing (6)
I believe the answer is:
garlic
'pungent plant' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the italian found in rock climbing' is the wordplay.
'the italian' becomes 'il' (the in Italian).
'found in' indicates putting letters inside.
'rock' becomes 'crag' (I've seen this before**).
'climbing' is a reversal indicator (in a down clue, letters climb up).
'il' put within 'crag' is 'cilrag'.
'cilrag' reversed gives 'GARLIC'.
(Other definitions for garlic that I've seen before include "Pungent edible bulb" , "Culinary bulb" , "Aioli ingredient" , "Pungent cooking ingredient" , "Bulb used in cooking" .)