Thank you, Guest. We live & learn. From the sources you cite [Oxford University & Noah Webster's successors], it would appear perhaps to be one of those UK/US variants. My own source was Chambers Dictionary.

There seem also to be two different possible pronunciations of the -cc- at end of first syllable — some say 'flocky...' & some 'floxy...' — followed indeed by either 'nocky...' or 'nowky...' [this bit presumably depending on whether one is thinking the '... nocci...' or the '...nauci...' version - in the first of which instances, will it be '...nocky...' or '...noxy...' [see above re 'floc...'].

You say above there are 2 spellings — but you seem to have intro'd another variant spelling by starting your 2nd version 'flauci...' instead of 'flocci' - which will of course gr8ly modify my above observations, to an extent that I cannot at present bear to contemplate...

It is, of course, a word constantly on all our lips, so it is important these vital questions be swiftly resolved!...