Clarifying the distribution of potential suitable areas for common herb plants is the basis for the continuous advancement of vegetation restoration in the Yanhe River catchment. In this study, MaxEnt and ArcGIS were used to simulate the potential suitability distribution in the Yanhe River catchment under the current climate situation by collecting the geographic distribution information of 8 common herbaceous plants and 13 environmental factors. In addition, correlation analysis was conducted between habitat suitability and variation characteristics of multiple functional traits of 8 herbaceous species, the variation characteristics including variation coefficient and variation range. The results showed that the seven functional traits in this study had obvious differentiation among the families of the plants according to the distribution pattern of the species trait sequence diagram. There are significantly different in functional traits between different families. On the right side of PC1 was Gramineae, and on the left side were Compositae, Leguminosae and Labiatae. The simulation results of the species suitability distribution model suggests that the suitability areas of the herbaceous plants locates in the northwest of the Yanhe River catchment, as well as the Lespedeza daurica has the highest suitability in the study area, and Thymus mongolicus has the lowest suitability, which implies that the Lespedeza daurica is more suitable than other herbaceous species as a pioneer species for vegetation restoration in the Yanhe River catchment. In the correlation analysis of functional traits, the coefficient of variation about specific leaf area was significantly positively correlated with the distribution of species suitability, while the variation characteristics of other functional traits were not significantly correlated with the distribution of species suitability. Therefore, the coefficient of variation about specific leaf area is more suitable for indicating the size of herbaceous suitable area in Yanhe River catchment.