The importance of quasi-molecular hydrogen as a source of continuous absorption in stellar atmos- pheres is re-examined as a result of a recently revised calculation of this absorption coefficient that includ- ed tñe explicit dependence on the rotational state of the nuclei. At stellar temperatures, the detailed summation of the absorption coefficient over rotational states increases the strength by about a factor of 2 at short wavelengths. It is found that quasi-molecular hydrogen absorption is of maximum importance relative to other sources of opacity in dwarf stars along the main sequence at about solar temperature. In the solar case, it exceeds 1 per cent of the total known opacity at wavelengths less than 3000 A and generally contributes more than Rayleigh scattering and the negative hydrogen ion below about 2000 A. The inclusion of quasi-molecular hydrogen absorption substantially reduces the disagreement between observed and calculated fluxes between 2000 and 1700 A in the solar spectrum, and it con- tributes some opacity down to 1525 A, a region that may include observable effects of the temperature minimum in the solar atmosphere