Strange metal pad in tree (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
date palm
'tree' is the definition.
(date palm is a kind of tree)
'strange metal pad' is the wordplay.
'strange' indicates an anagram.
'metal'+'pad'='metalpad'
'metalpad' is an anagram of 'DATE PALM'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for date palm that I've seen before include "Tree bearing fruit with stones" , "N African fruit tree" , "Fruit-bearing tree" , "that can bear fruit" , "Tree with sweet fruit" .)