Crossword Genius

Power unit on the French trees (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

wattles

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'trees' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their -s form, I don't understand how they can define each other.

'power unit on the french' is the wordplay.
'power unit' becomes 'watt' (unit of power).
'on' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'the french' becomes 'les' (plural form of 'the' in French).
'watt'+'les'='WATTLES'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for wattles that I've seen is " Loose skin hanging on lizards' necks".)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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