Caught performance at American plant (6)
I believe the answer is:
cactus
'plant' is the definition.
(I know that cactus is a type of plant)
'caught performance at american' is the wordplay.
'caught' becomes 'c' (cricket abbreviation).
'performance' becomes 'act' (act is a kind of performance).
'at' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'american' becomes 'us' (abbreviation for United States).
'c'+'act'+'us'='CACTUS'
(Other definitions for cactus that I've seen before include "Spiky desert plant" , "Eg, prickly pear" , "Prickly sort" , "Spiny plant of dry regions" , "Plant found in dry places" .)