The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word LILAC
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
L
I
L
A
C
More clues leading to the result LILAC
- Ring up about island flower
- Vocal, I like bringing up purple colour
- Plant in the shade
- Phone back about one’s tree
- Plant resin under tree? Not me!
- Flower I call “exotic”
- Drop in around one, having climbed tree
- Optical illusion partly inverted colour
- Tree providing shade
- In France, he’s swallowed by lake of purplish hue
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "tree" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case tree = lilac.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does LILAC mean?
LILAC noun- A large shrub of the genus Syringa, especially Syringa vulgaris, bearing white, pale-pink or purple flowers.
- A flower of the lilac shrub.
- (color) A pale purple color, the color of some lilac flowers.
- Having a pale purple colour.