Retired South American, so it's written, managed plant (9)
I believe the answer is:
narcissus
'plant' is the definition.
The answer is an example.
'retired south american so it's written managed' is the wordplay.
'retired' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'south' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'american' becomes 'US' (United States).
'so it's written' becomes 'sic' (Latin term used to acknowledge a typo in quotation).
'managed' becomes 'ran' (both can mean organised or was in charge of).
's'+'us'+'sic'+'ran'='sussicran'
'sussicran' in reverse letter order is 'NARCISSUS'.
(Other definitions for narcissus that I've seen before include "Type of daffodil" , "Reflective chap" , "Beautiful youth; plant" , "Self-centred youth" , "Who saw himself as winning" .)