Surprise surrounding a gentleman in clover (8)
I believe the answer is:
shamrock
'clover' is the definition.
(shamrock is a kind of clover)
'surprise surrounding a gentleman' is the wordplay.
'surprise' becomes 'shock' (shock is a kind of surprise**).
'surrounding' is an insertion indicator.
'gentleman' becomes 'mr'.
'a'+'mr'='amr'
'shock' placed around 'amr' is 'SHAMROCK'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for shamrock that I've seen before include "Ireland's special trefoil" , "Irish national emblem" , "Clover-like plant" , "Irish national symbol" , "symbolic of Ireland" .)