According to Genesis, Noah was told to build the Ark from gopher wood.
Genesis 6:14 gives the instruction: “Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.” The verse then describes rooms or compartments and tells Noah to cover the vessel inside and outside with pitch. Gopher wood is therefore the specific material named in the biblical construction command.
The identity of gopher wood is uncertain. “Gopher” may be a transliteration of the Hebrew word rather than the name of a securely identified modern tree. Because of that uncertainty, translations and commentators have proposed possibilities such as cypress or another durable conifer, but none is established as the definitive answer.
This makes gopher wood different from cedar, acacia, and olive wood, all of which are named elsewhere in biblical or ancient Near Eastern contexts. The Genesis passage does not say that the Ark was made from cedar, nor does it provide evidence for a particular species under modern botanical classification. The stable fact is the wording of the construction instruction.