Rat plants meadows (10)

I believe the answer is:

grasslands

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

'meadows' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both locations as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'rat plants' is the wordplay.
'rat' becomes 'grass' (slang term for an informer).
'plants' becomes 'lands' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'grass'+'lands'='GRASSLANDS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for grasslands that I've seen is " The pampas, for example".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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