Variety of aster eaten by animals (5)
I believe the answer is:
tares
'eaten by animals' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are plural nouns, I cannot understand how one could define the other.
'variety of aster' is the wordplay.
'variety of' is an anagram indicator.
'aster' with letters rearranged gives 'TARES'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tares that I've seen before include "Stare at the vetches" , "The weights of packaging" .)