Well-liked, losing heart to small trees (7)

I believe the answer is:

poplars

'trees' is the definition.
(poplar is a kind of tree)

'well-liked losing heart to small' is the wordplay.
'well liked' becomes 'popular' (I've seen this before).
'losing heart' means to remove the middle letters.
'to small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'popular' with its centre removed is 'poplar'.
'poplar'+'s'='POPLARS'

(Another definition for poplars that I've seen is " Tall slender trees with soft yellow-ish wood".)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.

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