Rat leaves bacteria developing in tree (5)
I believe the answer is:
ceiba
'tree' is the definition.
(ceiba tree is a kind of tree)
'rat leaves bacteria developing' is the wordplay.
'leaves' suggests deleting specific letters.
'developing' indicates anagramming the letters.
'bacteria' with 'rat' taken out is 'bceia'.
'bceia' with letters rearranged gives 'CEIBA'.
'in' is the link.
I've seen this clue in The Hindu.
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