A tree, or soft flexible cane (5)
I believe the answer is:
pecan
'a tree' is the definition.
(pecan is a kind of tree)
'soft flexible cane' is the wordplay.
'soft' becomes 'p' (musical abbreviation for 'piano').
'flexible' is an anagram indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'cane' with letters rearranged gives 'ecan'.
'p'+'ecan'='PECAN'
'or' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for pecan that I've seen before include "US nut tree" , "Walnut-like nut" , "nut-tree" , "Species of hickory - edible nut" , "Type of nut" .)