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, 'soft').
'flexible' indicates an anagram (the word is bent into a new form).
'cane' is an anagram of '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" .)