The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 5 letter word RED ALGAE
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
R
E
D
A
L
G
A
E
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "ea/weed etc" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case ea/weed etc = red algae.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.