Small conifer cultivated for use in court (8)
I believe the answer is:
forensic
'for use in court' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'small conifer cultivated' is the wordplay.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'cultivated' indicates an anagram.
's'+'conifer'='sconifer'
'sconifer' with letters rearranged gives 'FORENSIC'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for forensic that I've seen before include "Of or used in lawcourts, as in medical matters" , "Of the application of science to solve crime" , "Appropriate to argument" , "Concerned with the scientific side of the law" , "adapted to argument" .)