Wise man having confrontation in plant (9)
I believe the answer is:
sagebrush
'plant' is the definition.
'wise man having confrontation' is the wordplay.
'wise man' becomes 'sage' (sage is a kind of wise man).
'having' says to put letters next to each other.
'confrontation' becomes 'brush' (eg 'a brush with the law').
'sage'+'brush'='SAGEBRUSH'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for sagebrush that I've seen before include "American desert subshrub" , "shrubs in Nevada" , "plant" .)