If trees create GHNP’s outline, it is the shrubs and herbs that provide its gaiety and colour. Flowers can be found at some location in the park through most of the year. Many will be familiar to Western visitors because the Himalayas have long been a source of exotic shrubs and herbs for transportation to Europe and North America. Among these are the genera Berberis (barberry), Daphne, Desmodium (tick clover), Lonicera (honeysuckle), Indigofera (true indigo), Ribes (including varieties of currant), Rhamnus (buckthorn), Sorbaria and Viburnum.
Two species of hill bamboo grow in the park, forming dense clumps used by pheasants and other birds for feeding and breeding. Many climbers can also be found, increasing the plant diversity of the forest’s middle levels.