Stems play an important role in a plant's life except for A. providing support for leaves, flowers, and fruit
B. defensive properties to protect a plant from infection and insects
C. increasing the amount of exposure it receives to sunlight
D. predicting the age of the plant

D. predicting the age of the plant

Explanation:

stems don't exactly have those powers. but they do give support by holding the plant upright. they do give defensive properties. and they do increase the amount of sun exposure (like with sunflowers). but they don't predict anything.

this transfer is call conjunction